


Shinobi Foundations and Childhood Explorations

by JMariusG



Series: Sunflower Seeds [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, Character Study, Childhood Trauma, Confused Nara Shikamaru, F/M, Family Feels, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Fluff, Grief, Iruka Doesn’t get paid enough for this shit, Jinchuuriki need love too, Nara Clan Fixation, Nara OC - Freeform, Nara clan - Freeform, Naruto gets a family, Naruto is Just Naruto, Naruto is spoiled, Original Character(s), Politics, Psychological Trauma, Shikaku is just here, Uzumaki Lore, War, Women Being Awesome, Women getting shit done, Worldbuilding, alternate Uchiha massacre, and a brat, and best believe author is gonna give it to them, asuma is pissed, author has lots of ideas on how the series should have went and this is what you get, especially Utakata my baby, fuck the village and the villagers, general clan lore, nara lore, ooc canon characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:35:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29588703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMariusG/pseuds/JMariusG
Summary: Naruto and Shikamaru are being shaped into Shinobi even as the adults around them seek to contain the fallout of them being bound together by an age-old Nara trait.
Relationships: Nara Shikaku/Nara Yoshino, Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto, Sarutobi Biwako/Sarutobi Hiruzen
Series: Sunflower Seeds [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172471
Comments: 130
Kudos: 334





	1. Iruka’s Laments

**Iruka’s Laments**

Sarutobi Biwako wasn’t joking about Uzumaki Naruto worsening his feeling towards her before making them better. He had figured out that the girl was ridiculously sweet and gentle. There was a kindness that seemed to be instinctual to the girl if her almost impulsive mothering of Akimichi Choji, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinayana, and Aburame Shino was any indication. The Uzumaki girl was bright and smart, she had to be in order to pull off half the shit that she did, but he never saw that in class. Iruka realized that the little girl had extensive knowledge of animals, insects, plants, and Konoha’s history-something she must have picked up from being favored by the Hokage-but Iruka would have never known any of this if hadn’t overheard her talking with the Hyuuga, Aburame, and Inuzuka heirs about those topics. She picked up things rather easily but she was lazy.

Iruka didn’t think she was unmotivated the same way that her apparent crush, Nara Shikamaru, was. Rather, the girl seemed hopelessly bored. She was ruthless and vindictive and bitter. After observing her interactions with her classmates, he could understand why. The other children outside of her circle mocked her, stole her things, and even tried to bully her. 

In retaliation, Naruto had set off a series of traps that while _mostly_ harmless, were also able to switch to being _deadly_ if the girl so chose. A fact that Naruto made sure that all her victims and their families knew intimately. If they weren’t already scared of her before, her classmates outside of her circle definitely were now after the Week of Damnation as the faculty at the academy had dubbed it. Iruka seemed to be the only one who saw that the plan had backfired: Uzumaki Naruto didn’t want to be feared, she wanted to be left alone, but all she got for her efforts was more fear and hatred. 

So Iruka wasn’t _that_ surprised when the girl had taken up the mantle of class clown. It had alleviated the (justified) fears of her peers and also made them more likely to mock and ignore her, but never go further than that which Iruka had realized a week after this change had been the entire point of the Week of Damnation. 

Uzumaki Naruto was loud, brash, and impulsive. The girl did whatever she wanted and respected who she wanted (of whom Iruka was not on the list). In short, she was trouble. 

The little blonde refused to do any of her schoolwork and spent the entire class period either sitting in Nara Shikamaru’s lap or asleep which seemed to be the only way to make her be quiet. When she was not drooling on a desk or clinging to Shikamaru-kun, she could often be found being escorted back into the classroom by a tired ANBU or Iruka himself from some prank she either had done already or was in the process of doing. 

It had been three months since Uzumaki Naruto had been inducted into his class, three months since she’d showed up at his house at three in the morning and woken him up by screaming out an apology in his ear and dodging the kunai that would have slit her throat if she had been a normal child. (Instead the girl had raised an eyebrow after and remarked that civilians had tried to kill her with more skill than that). 

The apology was for their meeting, not for the almost two hundred plucked chickens she had left in his apartment. (He never got an apology from the little brat for that. He got one from the Hokage. He was informed by Sarutobi Biwako that he deserved what he got if a seven year old child could break into his house and deposit one hundred and ninety-seven plucked chickens throughout. He thought that the Hokage’s wife was terribly and obviously biased. He didn’t say anything though. He liked his life). As a result, Iruka found himself spending two hours cleaning up chicken shit and feathers throughout his apartment. 

He didn’t sleep well for two weeks after the incident. Namiashi Raido laughed his ass off at him at their weekly bar hopping event with the other former hunter-nin in their former unit. (“She’s just like her mother but as quiet as her father when she wants to be,” the kenjustsu master had chortled after he retold the story. Iruka was immensely curious about who the child’s parents were and how _Raido_ of all people knew that information but all he got in response was a bitter “ask the Hokage”. He would not be asking the Hokage shit). 

———————————————————————————-

The first thing Nara Yoshino’s noticed about the scarred Chuunin that was her son’s teacher, was that he looked miserable. 

The next thing that she noticed was the reason for his misery: Uzumaki Naruto. The little girl stood chattering at the poor teacher and he looked like he wanted her to shut the fuck up as soon as possible. Yoshino barely noticed Sarutobi Biwako, the Hokage’s wife narrowing her eyes at the sight of the the Nara family on Naruto’s other side because of her shock at seeing Naruto herself up close for the first time. 

She would have stopped walking entirely to stare at the girl if it wasn’t for Shikaku’s hand nudging her forward. She heard a sharp intake of breath but wasn’t sure if it was from herself or from someone else. Yoshino only had eyes for the little sprite before her, her eyes hungrily drinking in the little girl whose presence had been hidden from her for so long. 

Naruto looked like she had taken the most perfect parts of both of her parents and made them even better. She had huge eyes that were a pretty blue, a cerulean whirlpool that showed little darker flecks of her mother’s violet. Her face was round like Kushina’s but she could see some of Minato’s angles in the way that her eyes were sharply slanted towards the ends and her cheekbones cut against the smooth expanse of the rest of her face. The three little whiskers on each of her cheeks marked her as the jinchuriki. They twitched in a smile directed towards her-no directed towards _Shikamaru_ , her son. 

Her smile was so bright that Yoshino wondered what was the point of the electric lights in the academy conference room that they were meeting in. 

“Shika! I missed you ya know!” Was said-shouted-before the little girl launched herself across the table and tackled Shikamaru. Yoshino stared wide-eyed as Naruto began...purring? Growling? And rubbing her marked cheeks against the cherry red ones of her son’s. 

“I...uh. Yeah.” It was squeaked out which made Yoshino’s eyebrows raise even higher than she was sure that they already were. A glance towards her husband showed that the man was also surprised at the display of affection between the two children. Neither Nara had gotten any indication of _interest_ , or worse, _fixation_ , since that first meeting between the two. Shikamaru had gone back to his normal lazy nonchalant apathy about life for the most part. The only difference in their son was that he seemed more awake, more alive, but otherwise, he was the same child that she had known since before he was born. 

“Ah, I see what you mean Umino-kun”. The soft voice of Biwako-sama snapped Yoshino out of her reminiscing. 

The Sarutobi Matriarch was beautiful and in some ways looked even more youthful than Yoshino herself, despite being in her sixties or close enough to it. Yoshino knew the woman not only as the Hokage’s wife, but also as the aunt of her best friend’s husband, Uchiha Fugaku. Yoshino had heard all about how the Uchiha clan had disowned their former princess for her decision to marry Sarutobi Hiruzen from Mikoto-chan herself. Uchiha Mikoto adored the woman immensely. (It didn’t help that Biwako-sama was infamous for cursing out the elders of her clan and in public at that. At the top of her lungs. In the middle of the market.)

Yoshino did _not_ see what the other woman meant. All she knew was that Shikaku had come home with a note from their son’s teacher asking them to come to a parent-teacher meeting about Shikamaru. As she had been inundated with letters from the school signed by one Umino Iruka about Shikamaru’s sleeping, she had thought that this conference was going to be about that. But little Naruto was here and so was Biwako-sama. Why were they here and why was Biwako-sama here specifically?

Yoshino could tell that she was here for Naruto but it didn’t explain why? What kind of relationship did the Sarutobi Matriarch have with Uzumaki Naruto that she would be acting as her parent or guardian in this situation? The Sandaime had given Yoshino and her friends the impression that Naruto was locked away in the orphanage and barely saw other people. That impression did not match up with her current reality. 

Shikaku guided her to sit down by her elbow almost at the same time as Shikamaru settled between them with Naruto _in his lap_. A quick glance at Biwako-sama showed an eyebrow raised in amusement while Umino-san looked exasperated. So this was new to Biwako-sama but it was not new to the chuunin academy instructor. 

The only blonde in the room was still purring when Biwako-sama spoke again. “This is the Shika that I’ve heard so much about Naru-chan?”

The blonde twisted around to fix that beaming smile onto the Hokage’s wife and nodded vigorously. “Yeah, Shika’s my best friend ya know!” Yoshino _had not known_. “But he’s like, super lazy baachan! We take naps together!” They did? “And Shika’s teaching me how to play this super boring game shoogi or shogi or whatever. He tells me I’m beautiful everyday ya know!” He did? A look at her son’s face showed that it wasn’t impossible for her to think that all the blood in his body was currently residing in his head. 

“Yes, well thank you for that Naruto-chan.” The chuunin instructor cleared his throat. “We’re here to talk about Naruto-Chan’s and Shikamaru-kun’s... _friendship_. It’s very disruptive to the class atmosphere and-“

“I’m not even, like, talking anymore dattebayo! And I stay in the class nowadays too! Whaddaya want from me Scar-Fuck?” The Uzumaki interrupted hotly. Yoshino’s mouth dropped open at the blatant disrespect towards her sensei- _Scar-Fuck_ -and she chanced a glance at Biwako-sama who looked...amused. 

“You should be quiet and stay in class anyway Misa-chan,” the woman remarked dryly. Yoshino felt more than saw the blonde roll her eyes. 

“But he’s like soooooooooooo boring Bi-baachan! So I like, cuddle and nap with Shika instead.” Naruto-chan whined. “And he’s always bitching about me not sitting in my own seat even though he’s not sitting in _his_ own seat.”

“Shikamaru-kun isn’t a seat Misa-chan. Furthermore, Iruka-kun is your teacher, he can’t sit in his seat the entire time as he needs to demonstrate and check on the students.”

“Sure he is, if he wasn’t then I wouldn’t be able to sit on him dattebayo! The only thing Scar-Fuck is demonstrating is how to suck the joy out of literally everything.” Yoshino saw Iruka-san twitch and take a deep breath. “Why do I have to be at the academy re-learning stuff I already learned?”

“If you’ve already learned it Naruto-chan, then you’d do better on your exams but you don’t,” Iruka-san retorted. 

“Cause I don’t want to,” the girl replied flippantly. “Ya don’t even like me, who says you’re not gonna cheat me like the rest of them?”

There was a moment of silence before Iruka-san sighed.

“Naruto-chan, I _don’t_ like you. At first that was because of...well, it doesn’t matter. Now I don’t like you because you’re deliberately difficult. I cannot give you a fair chance if you don’t _give me_ a fair chance now can I?”

Biwako-sama hummed and Yoshino felt the temperature drop as the woman turned her entire body around to pin Iruka-san with her eyes. Naruto-chan on the other hand had gone entirely still in Shikamaru’s lap before she turned and buried her face into the crook of his neck. She saw Shikamaru lower his head to whisper in the girl’s ear but Yoshino couldn’t tell what he had said. Whatever it was made Naruto tighten her grip around her son’s neck.

Yoshino looked at Biwako-sama who seemed content to sit in the heavy silence while staring at Iruka-san who’s seemed to be trying to force the ground to open up and swallow him. A glance at her husband showed that he was avidly studying Biwako-sama and Iruka-san’s interaction. 

There was a sniffle before the muffled voice of Naruto commented, “I apologize for being a brat.” Iruka-san’s jaw dropped open. Obviously he wasn’t expecting an apology. 

“Uh, thanks-“

“Naruto-chan turn around and face Iruka-kun properly and apologize _again_ ,” Biwako-sama interrupted. A growl met her words before the Uzumaki child abruptly shifted and was sitting in a seiza position on the table in front of Shikamaru. 

Yoshino could see that the girl was scowling furiously, her pretty face twisted in an expression that the Nara Matriarch had seen on another face thousands of times. 

“I apologize for being a brat.” A pause. “Umino-san.” The little blonde said the man’s last name like she had bitten into something sour.

“I accept your apology Naruto-chan, I hope that we have a better relationship from here on out.” Iruka-san murmured diplomatically.

Naruto-chan inclined her head imperiously, a gesture that Yoshino knew instinctively that she had picked up from Sarutobi Biwako as it was something that Uchiha Mikoto and plenty other Uchiha (male or female) did often. It seemed like one could take an Uchiha out of the clan, but they could not separate the Uchiha from their innate arrogance and superiority complex. 

Said former Uchiha turned to smile at Naruto. “Good job, Misaki-chan. Why don’t you go get ramen with...Shikamaru-kun.” The woman tossed a small pouch towards the girl that was deftly caught in the small hands. 

Naruto grinned at Shikamaru and began dragging the boy out of the room chattering cheerfully. 

“This is the food of the gods lemme tell ya Shika!”

Yoshino did not miss that they were holding hands. 

* * *

Iruka did not release the breath that he was holding as the two children left. Sarutobi Biwako was _still_ staring at him. He only said what needed to be said. The woman wasn’t gonna kill for being honest after praising him some three months ago about being honest was she?

Kami the woman was terrifying. And she had barely spoken to him!

Iruka felt like a physical weight had lifted off of his soul as the woman turned her gaze from him to the Nara couple. Iruka knew Nara Shikaku as both the Jonin Commander and the former Commander of the Hunter-nin. The Nara Clan Head had two brothers: Nara Chikao was rumored to currently be in ANBU after his stint as the Director of the Sealing Corps for five years and his youngest brother, Nara Toshiro,was the youngest head of the Strategy Department. All three Nara brothers were S-Rank threats. Nara Yoshino was a former A-Rank Kunoichi who was one of the few kunoichi who were frontline fighters. Like the wayward Senju Princess, Tsunade, the woman used medical ninjutsu and freakish strength in battle which earned her her A-Rank placement in the Bingo Book. There were even rumors that Nara Yoshino had apprenticed under the woman but Iruka didn’t believe that they were true. 

“It seems like little Shikamaru-kun has fixated on my little blossom?” Biwako-sama had made the statement sound like a question, but he was sure that the three of them knew it wasn’t. That didn’t stopped the shocked form the Jonin Commander from pretending otherwise.

“I beg your pardon Biwako-sama?” Iruka felt a bit uneasy at seeing his superior’s shock. He had never seen Nara Shikaku show a broad range of emotions in the ten years that he had bled under the man, so seeing this open expression of shock on his commander’s face was worrying. 

“You should if that was your best attempt at deflection,” Biwako-sama drawled. “Let’s cut the shit. My husband is not known as the Professor for no reason after all. As the Hokage, he doesn’t have much time to study so I do the studying for him. Imagine my surprise when my little blossom comes home singing the praises of one Nara Shikamaru, your son. I should note that Naruto-chan is not interested in boys at all and she’s barely interested in people beyond watching and annoying them. Do you understand what I’m getting at Shikaku-kun?”

“I...yes, I do Biwako-sama. But, we haven’t really been sure of anything...” Shikaku shot Iruka a glance that he knew intimately. _Leave_. 

Before he could move however, Sarutobi-sama grabbed his sleeve. “Stay Iruka-kun. It’s important that you hear this as well.”

“Why does he need to hear anything? This is private clan business that I’m surprised that you, yourself, are privy to Biwako-sama!” It was the first time that Nara Yoshino had said anything during the entire meeting as her attention had mainly been split of gazing at his most troublesome student in longing and shock at said student’s interactions with her son. 

“As their teacher, he is going to spend quite a bit of time with them. No one knows how this...relationship works or how it even starts, we need all the data that we can get.” Biwako-sama remarked calmly. 

“Oh? Why do you care Sarutobi-sama? I don’t recall any care being given when-“

“Yoshino. I am _not_ my husband and you will do well to remember that.” The rebuke was given with a smile but the killing intent leaking into the air belied the cheer of the Sarutobi woman’s expression. Iruka wanted to _leave_ but here he was stuck between two women arguing over something that he had absolutely no idea about. He was still reeling over the apology he had gotten from one Uzumaki Naruto, and not this shit? 

“I know you’re not your husband. That does not stop you from being a reflection of his actions as I am of my own husband’s. Such is the life of married women wouldn’t you say?” Nara Yoshino was fucking crazy. She was giving _Sarutobi Biwako_ , the same energy back. 

And Biwako-sama was _still_ holding onto his sleeve. Iruka wanted to cry. _Women. Fucking insane all of them. Fucking sadists all of them_. 

“Fair point I suppose.” There was a slight pause as the killing intent in the room lessened slightly. “Naruto-chan is very precious to me and mine, Nara-chan. We have been caring for her since she was four,” they had? “And she began living with us full time at the age of six. I understand your anger over the situation as you were close to her parents, however, there are elements involved that you are not privy to but my husband, and by extension myself, are. I don’t ask for your forgiveness as no apology from me will ever be able to placate the wrongs done to Naruto-chan as a result of the decisions made by Hiruzen. But, I do ask that you don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment and control your mouth.” How did women do it? They could be condescending, apologetic, and commanding all in one sentence. _Women are fucking magic_ he silently added to his list.

“Thank you. I’ll do my best.” The KI in the room dissipated entirely with those words. Yoshino-sama fixed Iruka with her gaze, studying. She must have found something that she liked because she began, “there is something called the Nara Fixation. Nara’s need a...distraction shall we say, in order to not go insane because of how their minds work. Most of these distractions, called Fixations, are what most would consider hobbies. Things like cooking, gardening, knitting, etcetera. Very rarely, however, a Nara will Fixate on a _person_. As you have probably already implied, there is a high chance that Shikamaru has done so with Naruto-chan.”

Iruka nodded. “So,” he began, “what’s the problem?” Yoshino-sama quirked an eyebrow at him in his fast understanding of the situation.

“The problem is that there is not much known about human fixations. We don’t have much information and the information that we _do_ have that is concrete lets us know what happens if the subject of a fixation dies.” Yoshino-sama’s pretty face twisted in a grimace. “The Nara goes insane and kills themselves and it...we think that they also go on a homicidal spree. It’s not clear if this spree is triggered if the Fixation is killed by another or if its also done if the Fixation dies by natural causes.

“We know that the subject of the fixation creates a bond with the Nara. I suppose it could likened to when an animal imprints on something or another animal. After that display between the two, I think we can safely say that there _is_ some kind of bond. Especially with Sarutobi-sama’s acknowledgement that the behavior is not characteristic of Naruto-chan.”

Iruka frowned. This...sounded a lot more complicated than he had assumed at first. 

“We need you to observe the two and report back on your findings,” the gruff voice of Shikaku-sama interrupted his thoughts. He felt more than saw Biwako-Sama nodding in agreement. 

“Also,” Biwako-sama stated, “let the girl sit on his lap during class. As long as she’s quite and there, what’s the problem.”

Iruka opened his mouth to answer before he was cut off by Nara Yoshino’s shrill shriek of “what?!”

 _Troublesome_. 


	2. The First Moves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A background on the Nara clan and some political mechanizations occur over the residency of one Uzumaki Naruto.

The Ino-Shika-Cho Alliance dictated that Shikaku inform the other members of their alliance about any kind of changes within his clan that might signal significant political ramifications. 

His son fixating on the village jinchuriki, and the heiress to both the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans, surely met the bill. 

Akimichi Chouza arrived first as usual. He took one look at Shikaku’s face and offered him some chips. Shikaku grimaced as he accepted. He really needed to start controlling his facial expressions more if not only could one of his inferiors-Iruka-but also one of his best friends read his face so easily that he felt the need to offer him a chip. Chouza had grown out of the habit of constantly snacking when their generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio had made chuunin. That didn’t mean that the beefy man didn’t always have snacks on him anymore, as he did, it just meant that the crunch of chips or rice cakes wasn’t the background of their conversations anymore. 

Yamanaka Inoichi arrived last as usual. Shikaku must have gotten his face under control, or Inoichi was too preoccupied with his own thoughts, because the shorter man didn’t comment. He did raise an eyebrow at the snacking Chouza who shrugged and popped another chip in his mouth. 

“So what’s up Shika?” Inoichi broke the comforting background of Chouza’s munching. 

“I gotta tell you guys something that deals with Article Seven of our alliance.” Both men straightened at that. Article Seven was the article that was known as the He Said She Said Decree as it stated that the clan heads of each clan must share information with their fellow heads in relation to significant political, geographical, economic, and military change that would affect all three clans in some major way. 

“Article Seven huh? Last time you called an Article Seven was when you decided to marry Yoshino-chan,” Chouza remarked jovially. “Don’t tell me sweeping princesses off their feet is genetic.” The man chortled.

Shikaku smiled at his old friend. “Har, har, but also yes. In a way I suppose.” He grinned as Chouza’s mouth dropped open. “Shikamaru has fixated on Uzumaki Naruto. Who is,” He continued with a warning glance at Inoichi who had opened his mouth, “the heir to both the Namikaze and the Uzumaki clans. Minato was the bastard son of Lightening’s Daimyo, and the Uzumaki were daimyo, Uzukage, and everything in between in Uzushio.”

“Damn,” Inoichi grunted. “You Nara are always talking about how this is troublesome and that is troublesome. As far as I can tell, the most troublesome thing around is your guys’ fucking love lives!”

“Whatever Ino,” Shikaku huffed but he was smiling. The three friends sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Shikaku remarked, “I’m gonna have to tell the Council of Elders who are most likely gonna insist that Naruto-Chan come live in the estate with Shikamaru.”

Chouza whistled while Inoichi’s eyes sharpened on Shikaku’s face.

“Well now it makes more sense. Why didn’t you start with that Shika?” Inoichi grabbed the bag of chips out of the offended Chouza’s hands and grabbed a handful. The three lapsed into silence again.

Shikaku didn’t need to tell either of his teammates what telling the Council of Elders meant. Both of his teammates knew that the “most likely” scenario was set in stone; the Nara Council of Elders _would_ insist that Naruto-chan come live in the Nara Estate. The others knew how serious Nara’s took their fixations, the Nara Fixation _was_ the entire reason that Article Three, and to a lesser extent, Article Seven of the Ino-Shika-Cho Alliance Statutes existed after all. The Council of Elders _would_ take this matter to the Hokage who would have to take it to the Village Council. 

The only thing his two friends didn’t know was, “Well what do you think the Hokage and the Council will do then Shika?” Choza asked.

The Nara Patriarch rubbed his hands over his face before answering. “Honestly, if Biwako-sama wasn’t a factor, I think the answer would be a hell no. Honestly, it might still be a no.” He didn’t mention that he knew that the Sandaime wasn’t gonna just let Naruto stay with his family. He wasn’t sure of whether or not his friends knew about their leaders thoughts in regard to his clan. “You all remember how the Hokage reacted to our wives”-his wife and Chouza’s that is-“attempting to adopt the girl. I found out two days ago from Biwako-sama herself that Naruto-chan has been living in the Sarutobi compound for the past two years for the most part. She said that the girl started living there ‘full-time’ when she was six. She didn’t say where she was living ‘part-time’ from the ages of four to six.” 

All three men knew that Naruto had spent the first three years of her life in the orphanage where she was...well, they were _still_ trying to figure out what happened to Minato’s daughter,beyond being half-starved and left to wallow in her own filth. There had to be something else, something worse that was going on that prompted the Sandaime to declare that he had moved her to a new location but the man never stated his reasons as he often did when it came to Minato’s legacy. 

“I think,” Shikaku murmured, “that Naruto will either end up living here, or she will enter into another ‘part-time’ living agreement as Biwako-sama hinted at during the meeting.Either way it’s going to be-“

“Troublesome.” The other two remarked solemnly. 

* * *

The Nara estate was one of the more low key clan compounds in the village and it was the only one referred to as an ‘estate’ instead of a compound simply because of the vastness of it. 

Technically, the estate wasn’t part of the Village Hidden in the Leaves but was rather it’s own little sovereign land that existed in conjunction to Konoha. It was the richest both in terms of the wealth of the inhabitants but also in regard to the sheer fertility of the land. As he walked across it towards the Council of Elder’s chambers which was located near the main Nara Research Facility and directly across from the little playground tucked near his cousin Danno’s woodworking shop. He nodded in greeting to the Nara that passed him by on his way and waved to the sleepy looking toddlers and children who were stumbling lethargically around the playground outside the Council Chambers. 

Making his way inside the small building, Shikaku took a deep breath. After talking to Inoichi and Chouza, he decided to call a meeting of the Elders to get this whole mess over with. 

Unlike other clans, the Nara Council of Elders was made up entirely of women. Each woman wasn’t old, as the name may have suggested, but they were specialists in their fields. 

Nara Aiya had was a master weaver who could embroider seals into clothing. Her sealing knowledge and beautiful designs had made her a shoe-in for the spot of Elder of Weaves at the age of twenty ten years ago.

Nara Chie was his youngest sibling and Shikaku knew that the young woman was smarter than him by leagues. Chie-chan had inherited the bulk of the Nara intelligence and Yoshino often remarked that it was Chie’s intellect that Shikamaru had inherited and only a sprinkling of Shikaku’s own. He often wondered why his little sister who had the rare dirty blond hair of their great-grandmother that popped up in the Nara family every fifty years or so, wanted to be an Elder instead of the head of the Strategy department. At twenty-six, Chie had her whole life ahead of her, and spending it in this lifetime appoint as the Elder of Wisdom seemed silly to him.

Nara Eri was the Elder of Jutsu. The woman could rival Hatake Kakashi for the amount of elemental ninjutsu that she knew. Before she retired to become an Elder, the woman had trained Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Shishui, and Uchiha Itachi (at Fugaku’s request) during all three’s genin and ANBU years. Eri-sama was the oldest on the council at fifty-nine.

Nara Fuji was the only Elder besides Yoshino who was on the council that wasn’t born a Nara. The thirty-eight year old had married into the clan twenty years ago and was the young wife of his uncle Nara Itsuki. Fuji-sama had been the daughter of a wealthy Sand merchant who had run away from home after her father tried to marry her off to someone she didn’t love. Nara Fuji ended up in Konoha and ended up marrying Itsuki-oji thanks to her passionate tirade on trade routes between the village. She was the Elder of Commerce and also the only elder who had no Shinobi background.

Finally, the second eldest sibling of the Nara family, Nara Hayami, was the Elder of Secrets. Hayami-chan was the sibling that was closest in age to Shikaku himself, and the only one besides himself that was also married. Hayami knew everything there was to know about everything. Outside of the clan, what the woman actually did was unknown. It was only known that Nara Hayami had been the Commander of the Seduction Corps at thirteen and then had beat out Yamanaka Inoichi for the spot as the Intelligence Commander at twenty to the then Yamanaka heir’s twenty-two. (Shikaku remembered that Inoichi pouted about his “annoying gifted pretty sister” for weeks. He tried to forget walking in on the two making out). Within the clan, Hayami-chan was known as the _Hachidori_ or the Hummingbird for how quick and silent she was and how her beauty allowed her to get whatever she wanted. 

Outside of the five women, there was his own wife, Yoshino, who was known as the Shizoku no Chushin or heart of the clan both inside the Council of Elders and in the clan as a whole. Yoshino had the final say in council matters. But because of the nature of this conversation, Yoshino had removed herself. 

As soon as he walked in the Council Chambers, he noticed Hayami’s pretty smirking face. Rolling his eyes at her, he quickly bowed to the other four women in the chamber, flipped his little sister off, and reclined into a seiza position before them. 

“Hayami-chan knows something we don’t but won’t tell us Shika-kun!” Nara Eri stated pouting. 

The soft sound of Hayami’s laughter filled the chamber as she cheerfully whined, “Can’t you let me watch my aniki squirm in peace Eri-obachan? Let me have my fun!”

Shikaku found himself rolling his eyes again. Both Eri-sama and his little sister acted like children more than adults. 

“Shikamaru has fixated on Uzumaki Naruto.” Chie’s statement caused four out of the five Elders to whip around to stare at her. Hayami’s whine drowned out his own groan of annoyance. 

“Chie-chan! You’re as boring as aniki!”

“I’d ask how you knew that imoto but I’m not gonna insult your intelligence,” Shikaku sighed out. “Will you stop whining Haya-chan? Can we remove her from the chambers?” He asked.

The question was met with laughter as everyone there knew that it wasn’t a council meeting if Hayami-chan didn’t annoy him. 

“But yes, Shikamaru has fixated on Naruto-chan. Their academy instructor, a chuunin and former Hunter-nin named Umino Iruka, has been giving Yoshino and I along with Biwako-sama reports for the past two days of his observations. However, it is Shikamaru’s own statement that has cemented my belief that his has done so.”

“What statement Oi?” Fuji-obachan asked.

“He told me and his mother...that he could feel her. When we asked him what she was doing, he stated that she was eating. Yoshino noted the time and sent a messenger to the Sarutobi compound where Naruto resides who confirmed the statement. Furthermore, Shikamaru says that he’s had to keep a tighter leash than normal on his shadow. Nara Kimi’s diary reflects this need of control over one’s shadow.”

“I see...”

“You’re worried about something big brother.” Hayami remarked calmly. All manner of playfulness was gone from her demeanor. Here was the woman who had run the Seduction Corps for seven years and then turned around and ran Intelligence for another eight years. The fact that Hayami was asking told him that she didn’t know the answer to his unasked question that was causing worry to naw at his bones.

“He, he’s in pain. It’s like he’s trying to get out of his own skin. I know my son and his facial expressions very well after all.” Gasps met this statement. “Umino-san has reported that Shikamaru seems tense until Naruto arrives. He’s also stated that Shikamaru keeps near constant physical contact going with Naruto. Yoshino and I have noticed that he hasn’t been sleeping properly lately. At the meeting, Naruto-chan told Biwako-sama that she and Shikamaru take naps together. We’ve hypothesized that this is when he recuperates his missed sleep.”

“Well what are you waiting for then?” Chie demanded angrily. “Go get that girl and bring her here!”

“Chie,” Fuji-obachan reprimanded softly. “Uzumaki Naruto is the _jinchuriki_ , bringing her into the Nara estate would be an act of treason. She is considered a weapon of the state.”

“She’s a _child_.” Hayami hissed. “A child who is probably feeling the same as Shikamaru-kun. Unlike Shikamaru, she’s just more used to pain. I have...heard that Biwako-sama has been needling the Sandaime about Naruto-chan’s sleep schedule. According to my source, it’s as fucked up as Shikamaru’s but it sound as if it’s worse. Tell me aniki, is Shikamaru-kun getting any sleep?”

Shikaku nodded. “Restless sleep. But he’s getting a continuous hour in between waking up.”

“Uzumaki Naruto is getting _no_ sleep. She also is refusing to eat anything other than ramen, something that I’m told is a major comfort food for the girl. My source says that the blond reverts to old...habits, shall we say? When she feels threatened or in pain. My source says that this change has greatly concerned the Sandaime and the other residents of the Sarutobi compound. Apparently they have worked very hard to adjust Naruto-chan.”

“Uzumaki Naruto is living with the Sarutobi huh?” Aiya-sama remarked for the first time. “That’s...interesting and troubling.”

“Troubling, Aiya-dono?” Shikaku asked puzzled.

“What Aiya means stupid, is what happened that the Jinchuriki needs the protection and the clout that comes with living with the Sarutobi clan, the clan whose head is our Hokage.”

No one had an answer for Chie. 

________________________________________

Hiruzen made Shikaku wait two weeks before he granted him an audience. 

As far as Hiruzen was concerned, there was no reason for his granddaughter to live with the Nara clan. Putting the child into the hands of the clan was sure to be a disaster. The Nara was the only clan who had been smart enough to negotiate a treaty with the newly formed Konoha that allowed them to not only own their own land, but also skip out on helping in the village if they wanted to. All other clans had to contribute _something_ to the village whether that something was bodies (Shinobi), taxes from the land that they lived on or the businesses they started, etc. The Nara on the other hand had made it so that their initial contribution was _advice_. It was not until his sensei, Senju Tobirama, had become the Nidaime that the Nara Exception as the Nidaime as disdainfully dubbed it was renegotiated. And the village _still_ got the short end of the stick. 

Tobirama-sensei had managed to get the Nara to contribute to the village by ensuring that there would be at least twenty Nara (a pitifully small number) were enlisted in the Shinobi ranks at any given time, the Senju had been tricked to agreeing to paying the Nara for their medicine and poisons but also paying them one hundred thousand ryo per every twenty Nara Shinobi that were active Shinobi. Since, and Hiruzen was quoting here, “You troublesome Senju want us to fight in your wars so much. We’re not gonna die for _free_.”

While many would argue that the Hyuuga or Uchiha were the most powerful clan in the Land of Fire, the wise person would name the Nara. 

He remembered Nara Eri, his rival growing up, who was the most motivated Nara that he knew and who knew over one thousand jutsu and had created ten of her own that he knew of. There was Nara Hisa who had had an intense dalliance with Uzumaki Sana and passed on her love of seals along with all that her lover had taught her to her daughter Nara Aiya. Then there were the five children of Nara Shikako: Shikaku, Hayami, Chikao, Toshiro, and Chie. All five of which were geniuses in their own rights. All of them with exception of the youngest, Nara Chie, were S-Rank threats (Nara Shikaku was bordering on flee-on-sight status like his late friend Namikaze Minato). Nara Chie, had an A-Rank threat assessment with the caveat that if you were to see her, to not engage unless you were in a group numbering more than five (and at least three of that group needed to be jonin). 

No, while Danzo had inherited an intense distrust bordering on hatred for the Uchiha clan from their sensei, Hiruzen had inherited a wariness of the Nara from the Nidaime. The main problem was that the Nara did little without calculating the outcome. How could one trust someone who was constantly calculating and scheming? The short answer, Tobirama-sensei had told him, was that you didn’t. 

Hiruzen’s interactions with Nara Eri and then her nephew Nara Shikako always left him on edge and uneasy. Neither Eri or Shikako had ever met with Hiruzen with the aim of just mindless chatter. They were always working some angle, confirming some inkling, or maneuvering something (mainly him). He could not count the amount of times that he had to pause what he was doing as he was suddenly hit with the knowledge that the conversation that he had had with one Nara Eri had been a plot that had played out hours, days, months, or years prior. 

So no, placing the bright sunshine that was his granddaughter into that pit of vipers was not high on his to-do list. 

Hiruzen understood that Shikamaru and Naruto had a connection. Had seen the evidence with his own eyes. Had seen Naruto light up like the sun and attach herself like a leech to the boy in a way that the normally cautious and wary child never did. He had seen the bitterness and misery that seemed to hang around his little Naru-Chan like a shroud fade away with a single smile from the Nara heir. Had seen the the Nara look alive and not like he was sleeping through life whenever he peeked on the two during their academy classes. But. But he couldn’t help but think that the young Nara heir was planning something. 

Biwako had remarked that he was being as paranoid and suspicious as Danzo. The words had left a bitter taste in his mouth as he tried to deny what he knew was true. Shikamaru was a _child_ of course. But he was also a _Nara_ child. 

Hiruzen looked up into the scarred face of one of his greatest Shinobi. 

“No.” 

______________________________

It was a risk, Shikaku knew to involve the entire village council in this matter. But a risk that he knew the outcome of and was thus prepared to take.

So five days after his audience with the Sandaime and three weeks since the parent-teacher conference when his suspicions had become concrete, he sat between his best friends with his face carefully blank. He could feel the gaze of the Sandaime, feel the arrogant smugness in it.

In a way, he could understand why the man had thought he’d won. Shikaku _had_ in fact stressed the importance of keeping this matter private. Shikaku _had_ never given the Sandaime a reason to look at him with the same suspicious eyes that he had his father and his aunt Eri. Shikaku had always done his best to allay his leader’s fears of him constantly plotting and scheming. Even though he was, he always was. That was the way his brain worked. 

The key word though, was had. He had done these things when they were useful to him. But these things had served their purpose.

Nara’s protected their own first and foremost. As soon as he began to think of Uzumaki Naruto as the subject of his son’s Fixation, he began to think of her as his own as well. 

_Nara’s protect their own_.

“Does the Shinobi council have any news or inquiries to make of the council?”

Shikaku yawned before he drawled, “I do.”

He never once broke eye contact with the Sandaime as he related the issue of the Nara Fixation. He never once tried to hide _his_ smugness over the ensuing debate amongst his fellow councilors over what to do. And he didn’t bother to hide his smile when Uchiha Fugaku, ignorant to Shikaku’s plans but playing right into them as he knew the Uchiha Clan Head would, recommended that one Uzumaki Naruto live with the Nara. He was still smiling when the Sandaime was forced to declare Uzumaki Naruto a ward of the Nara Clan as soon as Aburame Shibi remarked that they could not afford for their jinchuriki to be sleep deprived and in constant pain while becoming a ninja, not to mention the approval of Shimura Danzo, the head snake himself of the move. It was approved by the council that Uzumaki Naruto would stay, full-time, with the Nara with the added conditions that Naruto and Shikamaru be placed on separate teams and be married once they both reached chuunin or turned fifteen, whichever came first (these recommendations came from Hyuuga Hiashi as he knew they would). 

Manipulating people wasn’t something that he enjoyed doing but it was something that came naturally to him. 

As he and the Sandaime kept up their eye contact as the council moved on to other matters, all Shikaku could think was _checkmate_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nara Family Tree:  
> Nara Shikako——Nara Keimei  
> -Nara Shikaku—Nara Yoshino  
> -Nara Hayami—Nara Yuuto  
> -Nara Chikao  
> -Nara Toshiro  
> -Nara Chie  
> Nara Eri (younger sister of Nara Shikako, the former clan head)  
> Nara Itsuki (second son and younger brother of Nara Shikako)  
> Nara Fuji (wife of Nara Itsuki)  
> Nara Aiya (daughter of Nara Hisa, father unknown but rumored to be Uzumaki Sana or Nara Akio, both dead)
> 
> Translations that were not provided in the text:  
> Oi: nephew  
> Obachan (normally obasan): auntie  
> Aniki: big brother  
> Imoto: little sister
> 
> I’ve always been super fascinated by the Nara Clan after Shikamaru told Temari that he had already planned out the next 200 steps of their battle but gave up because he was too lazy (I, to this day, don’t believe that he was running out of charkra). Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by this clan who are known as strategists. 
> 
> Furthermore, I want to make it clear that while *I* personally don’t see the Nara as eternally scheming and scamming, I can see how it would look that way to their peers. It gave me this idea that the Nidaime Hokage thought that the clan was hella sus and that perception was cemented even more after he tried to renegotiate that made up treaty. 
> 
> I hope that the world building and all the politics and treatises made sense. Beyond the Bingo Book, there isn’t much Kishimoto wrote about the laws, so I’m making my own. It makes sense to me that the Nara would negotiate a completely separate and snarky treaty like the one I listed. 
> 
> (I didn’t even intend to write this, I was going to write ShikaNaru fluff, but Shikaku and Hiruzen needed to speak I guess.)


	3. Ruin and Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asuma enters the scene and the Uchiha massacre, sorta.

_Dear Asu-Oji,_

_Today I met a boy named Shikamaru who said my hair was really pretty! He’s obviously perfect since he knows beauty when he sees it ya know!_

_Kao-oji made the funniest face when I told him though. And he told me to stay away from boys! But Shika’s not just some dumb boy he’s my first friend. Jiji says you can’t be friends with someone you just met, but anyone who calls me beautiful is a friend in my book._

_I learned about a new poison and Baachan has let me start practicing with her whip._

_Kono-kun is shitty. He’s been pooping everywhere! Glad I don’t have to deal with it._

_Love,_ _Naruto_

* * *

_Naru-hime,_

_I hate to agree with my idiot older brother, but he does have a point when it comes to not everyone being your friend, despite them calling you pretty or not. That being said, I’m glad you’re making friends, even if it’s a dumb boy._

_(Though for my sake, can’t you make some female friends? Boys are disgusting. I would know since I was one.)_

_This Shikamaru kid has good taste however! Glad he’s seeing what I’ve always had!_

_Yeah, I heard about Konohomaru. Glad I’m not there._

_Asuma_

* * *

_Dear Asu-oji,_

_Shika is not dumb. He’s the most not dumbest person you’ll ever meet ya know! But he is a lazy bum, lemme tell ya! All he does is nap, and when he’s not napping he just stares at me like a creep sometimes. He says he’s studying me or something. I think it’s kinda weird. But cute I guess._

_He’s got me napping with him now too. I guess it’s nice. I mean, I haven’t been getting any sleep otherwise which is weird ya know! I always have a good sleep but now I don’t._

_But when we’re done napping, Shika takes me to Ichiraku’s! And he listens to me. He makes me feel funny in my tummy. I thought I was getting sick but Uzumaki Naruto isn’t a pussy and doesn’t get sick! So it has to be something he’s doing._

_I asked Jiji what was wrong with me and he said that Shika is poisoning me which is stupid cause Shika would never and I’m immune duh! I asked Kao-oji and he said the same dumbass shit. Koto-obachan laughed though and said I was “growing up”. Growing up where? I’m still wearing little kid clothes!_

_Please save me from these weirdos, Asu-oji! They’re killing me here!_

_Love,_ _Naruto_

_(P.S., Konohomaru isn’t shitty anymore and I’ve showed him the ways of the god! At this point Old Man Teuchi should lemme have all my meals for free! I’m getting him so much business!)_

* * *

_Naru-hime,_

_Kami brat you have a crush on this kid?_

_You’re gonna give me a heart attack at this rate. Next thing I know you’re gonna be married with kids!_

_Mom told me how you and that boy are always cuddled up and shit. She also told me how you sit in his lap during class. What have I told you about boys? They’re demons all of them! This Shikamaru character has to be a high-level one to have you doing all this weird shit._

_I also heard about you being a big girl and apologizing to your teacher. I’m proud of you for that hime, sometimes you have to be the bigger person and own up to your mistakes. From that alone, you’re doing better than your Uncle._

_Mom told me to fuss at you about your grades but honestly, the academy isn’t the best judge of talent and with your history, I’m surprised you even show up. Guess that Shikamaru_ is _good for something huh?_

_As for Teuchi-san, ask him if he has some stock options. The business that you’re getting the man doesn’t make up for him having to feed the bottomless pit that’s your stomach._

_Asuma_

* * *

_Asuma-kun,_

_What part of encourage her to study did you not understand? Between you and Kotone, my only good child is Kaoru!_

_But that isn’t why I’m writing you. I’m worried about Misa-chan, she_ really _hasn’t been sleeping well lately. And by not sleeping well, I mean not at all. She told me about your monk friend, whatever his name is, and I was wondering if you could ask him about some kind of sleeping tinctures for her. That damn fox burns through anything I try to give her._

_She won’t eat anything other than ramen and has taken up her nesting habits again._

_We’re really worried Asuma._

_Mom_

* * *

_Mom,_

_I asked Chiriku about it (and told him about her tenant, sorry) and he’s provided me with some tinctures from the Land of Noodles, that he hopes will have some effect._

_Hime says that she’s been napping with that boy though? I hate to say this but maybe you should invite him over for a sleepover and see if he helps?_

_Asuma_

* * *

_Asuma-kun,_

_The tinctures did make her drowsy but she (or the Kyuubi) outlasted the effect. It only served to make her sluggish and she did doze off for a few minutes but you could tell it wasn’t deep sleep._

_Please give Chiriku-san my deepest regards as his tinctures did more for Naruto than any of mine did._

_Naruto will be writing you soon with big news. You’ll probably react negatively which is the only reason that I’m mentioning it here so that you can temper your response to your father. Kotone and Kaoru have already given him a most uncharacteristic (of Kaoru) tongue-lashing. I’ve also given him my fair share of grief._

_Mom_

* * *

_Asu-oji!_

_I’M GOING TO LIVE WITH SHIKA AND HIS FAMILY!_

_Isn’t that cool? His mom says that we can share a room cause Shika hasn’t been sleeping well too (I already knew that since me and Shika are best friends and talk everyday!) so they hope that by us sleeping together that we’ll have some r-e-s-p-i-t-e. Whatever that means._

_His mom is very pretty and nice. Shika has a huge family and lots of uncles and aunts. I’ve only met Haya-obachan who’s super duper pretty! She also called me beautiful!_

_Why is the Sarutobi clan so small compared to the Nara clan? Are all clans as small as the Sarutobi or are the Sarutobi an a-n-o-m-a-l-y? (Shika says that that word means not normal. Why can’t I just say not normal?)_

_Love,_ _Naruto_

P.S. WE’RE ALSO GONNA GET MARRIED WHEN WE MAKE CHUUNIN OR TURN FIFTEEN! I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU THAT PART! THAT’S THE BEST PART! I GET TO CUDDLE WITH SHIKA FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE, ISN’T THAT AWESOME? HE GIVES THE BEST CUDDLES TOO. AND SHIKAMARU SAYS THAT US GETTING MARRIED MEANS THAT WE ONLY CUDDLE WITH EACH OTHER.

* * *

_Naru-hime,_

_I’m happy that you’re so happy about your new living arrangements and your future. I’m_ not _happy however that you’re gonna be sharing a room with a boy and getting married so young. But I’ll get over it._

_The Nara clan is one of the oldest clans in history and they’re also one of the first clans who joined Konoha after the Shodaime and Uchiha Madara built the village. As you’re gonna be living with them, you should get acquainted with their history and allies. The Nara have two major allies, the Akimichi-one of the four noble clans-and the Yamanaka. (Yes, “that bitch Ino” is one one your future husband’s allies)._

_You’ll probably be told this, but the Nara are famous for their intellect and Shadow Manipulation jutsu which isn’t a Kekkei Genkai, but rather a technique that has been honed to efficiency within that clan and all Nara have a predisposition to it. But anyone can learn how to use it._

_I’m sending you some figurines that the Daimyo gifted me after hearing about your good news. They’re custom made for you. I hope you like them. Also, my friend Chiriku-san whom I’ve told you about has sent you a book and some recipes on medical plants and their uses. The Nara clan also makes medicine from the antlers of their prized deer._

_Asuma_

* * *

_Mom told me not to give you grief about placing Hime in an arranged marriage but fuck that. Have you lost your fucking mind Old Man? I knew I should have taken her with me, consequences be damned. Are you so heartless that you would use a child this way?_

_Naruto isn’t a fucking weapon or a political pawn. She’s a person. She would have married the kid anyway later from what I’ve been told from her herself._

_You don’t even trust the Nara because of your own paranoia and you place her with them? I only left because I knew between Mom and Kotone-nee, they’d keep your senile ass from fucking my little princess over but it seems like even they were blindsided by this bullshit!_

_The only reason there’s not a fucking explosive tag attached to this letter is because Naruto seems happy._

_Fuck you respectfully,_ _Asuma_

* * *

_Asuma_

_Thanks for your kind words, truly._

_I was out maneuvered by the council in this regard. There are things going on between Naruto and Nara Shikamaru that you aren’t privy to. Think about that before you condemn me._

_You are still a child at heart I see. Naruto_ is _a weapon and a political pawn. The Village Hidden in the Leaves is a dictatorship and I its dictator. While I do care for Naruto-chan as if she’s my own, I know that she is at the end of the day a weapon. Konoha’s strongest and most important weapon._

_You will do well to meditate on my words._

_The Sandaime_

* * *

“Tch.” Asuma crumpled the letter from his father in his hands. 

The old man was always doing this. Forever lecturing him about what his father perceived to be stubborn naïveté. 

_A weapon._

Naruto was so much _more_ than that. She was a beautiful kid, always smiling even while she sobbed in heartbreak at the village’s cruelty. A cruelty his father had never bothered to stop until a group of his own Shinobi- his weapons- almost killed her after hours of torture. 

Asuma thought about then, all those years ago when a four year old girl had come to the Sarutobi compound alone and broken. There hadn’t been a scar on the girl’s frame, but there didn’t need to be in order to see the damage that had been wrought upon her young frame. He had been so angry then, the anger he felt now at his father a pale echo, against the roaring fires of his fury at the knowledge that a _child_ had been treated thus. 

Asuma had never told Naruto this but the reason he had left the Hidden Leaf Village two years later was because of his family’s inaction when it came to the little girl. Besides himself, only his older sister had ever bothered to truly demand a change in the laws their father had set up in order to “protect” Naruto. Obviously, the laws weren’t working. But like him, Kotone had been firmly denied. 

Unlike him though, Kotone didn’t leave the village. She wasn’t a bleeding heart like him. Asuma was a coward he knew. He could not stand seeing his most precious person treated in such away and after years of trying to change her circumstances to no avail, he left. During those years, after every rebuke, every failure to change his father’s policies, he found himself beginning to become unable to meet Naruto’s smiling eyes. 

He had never understood exactly _why_ she was always smiling. He didn’t think there was much for her to smile about. (There wasn’t). And yet, even when she was cursing like a sailor and getting her revenge on the villagers through her many pranks, she was always smiling with a laugh waiting it’s turn to rend the air with it’s presence. He knew that Naruto was a bitter child. An angry one who was more wary of people than she was trusting.

And yet. 

She was ridiculously loyal to those who showed her kindness and unfailingly kind. She was so unflinchingly courageous but horribly insecure, shouting out her name to all but always with a hint of fear at the reception her person would get. She held grudges like no one’s business, was vindictive and petty, but she was never cruel. Uzumaki Naruto was a child of contradictions, contradictions that Asuma loved to study. 

Asuma had left Konoha to find the courage and confidence that his little hime had in spades. He hoped that by the time he came back to Konoha- he _would_ return- that he was able to look his hime in her eyes and not break down in tears or look away in shame. That he would be able to tell her, what his heart had always known, that she was his _daughter_ despite them sharing no blood relation. 

Joining the Shugonin Junoishi, hadn’t been in his plans. But after being invited to meet the Daimyo of his country for tea thanks to his family name, Asuma had decided that protecting and guarding the Daimyo as one of his Twelve Guardian Ninja was a great way to further his goal. Toyotomi Hideyori, the Fire Daimyo, was a tall wiry man with a kind disposition. The man had taken one look at Asuma and told him that he was “too young to be burdened so. Trust me, I would know!” And had laughed.

Toyotomi-sama’s laughter and smile had reminded him so much of the child he had left behind that Asuma had begged for some way to be of service to him. 

He had been serving as one of the Shugonin Junoishi since then. 

Until now, the only regret he had was not taking Naruto with him. 

* * *

Shikamaru decided that he never wanted to wake up any other way than this one. Even if his companion drooled copiously on him and shifted around seven thousand times in her sleep, he wouldn’t change it for the world. 

Naruto had moved into the Nara Estate two weeks ago and the novelty of having his personal sunshine around twenty-four seven still hadn’t worn off. 

The blond was as loud and hyperactive as ever and she woke up at the crack of dawn every morning; a daily ritual that he had unwillingly become a part of. He had asked if she woke up with the sun to tell her parents good morning—Shikamaru refused to believe that she was born naturally like him, he knew that Kami, Amateratsu-Omikami specifically, needed to be credited with Naruto’s existence—and she had laughed _that laugh_ that said she thought he was being silly but she rather liked it. 

He’d do anything for that laugh.

Shikamaru shifted a bit to release the death grip that Naruto had on his arm before shifting again so he could look at her more comfortably. It wasn’t often that Shikamaru woke up before her, but when he did, he often took the time to just bask in all that was Naruto. Even while sleeping, Naruto had an affecting air to her that couldn’t be ignored. 

Her mouth was half-open, a line of saliva connecting her mouth and his shoulder together and her hair fanned out behind her in a river of gold leaving her face exposed. The whisker marks on her face that he’d learned acted much like _actual_ whiskers twitched as she mumbled incoherently in her sleep before relaxing. 

She was beautiful and she was his.

His shadow that seemed to need to be in constant contact with her quivered in agreement from its perch around her shoulders, inky tendrils snaking their way into her hair. He’d asked his father if this was normal, his shadow being animated without his consent, and his father had shrugged before muttering about his fixation.

And wasn’t that something? He had fixated on Naruto.

Like most in his clan, he’d believed that the Nara Fixation was more of intense hobbyship, and that the legend of Nara Kimi his four-times great-grandmother, was just that—a legend. 

Shikamaru had been fucking wrong. Which was rare even in his short life. He was happy to be wrong though for the first time in forever. 

His fixation was a new experience even though he’d realized after being told that he’d been experiencing it a little over three months now. 

He felt like a wolf who had found his mate in some ways. He and Naruto were just...connected. He always knew what she was doing and how she was feeling—and wasn’t _that_ something?—and he knew vaguely where she was. 

Before now, the only thing that had connected Shikamaru to this realm had been his clan and the clouds. But now, there was this other person, someone who was forever connected to him in ways that he couldn’t articulate. Shikamaru had always been floating around, going wherever the winds of his parents directed him to go, like a particularly pliant cloud.

Naruto was not only a very strong current of wind that had bowled him over and knocked him to the ground (literally), she was the sun that had given his shadows purpose. One could not after all, have shadows without light. A sentiment that the Nara clan lived by religiously. 

Looking at her now, he remembered his Aunt Chie telling him that _Nara’s protect their own_. He hadn’t understood what Chie-obasan had meant and why she’d said it so seriously. The phrase was said hundreds of times throughout the day by his clansmen. Sometimes with mirth, sometimes with bitterness, but always with a fatalistic _conviction_. Before meeting Naruto and becoming so connected to her, he’d thought that the phrase was declaring the deep-rooted loyalty that he and his kinsmen could exhibit for those they cared about.

But now he knew what it actually meant. 

_Nara’s protect their own_. 

* * *

Naruto, he had come to find, had a bit of a morning routine: -Wake up at the asscrack of dawn -Train for two to three hours -Eat enough for a family of five after said training -eat breakfast _again_ at the Sarutobi compound with her cousin, Konohomaru -prank (torture) the villagers and Hokage -get chased by ANBU around the village for aforementioned prank -arrive late to class (sometimes with an ANBU escort, other times alone) and pout cutely while getting scolded by Iruka-sensei -stomp her way to her seat (Shikamaru’s lap)

This routine ran from around 4:45 AM to 9:30 AM depending on the prank, and rarely deviated much from its structure. 

Except today. 

Naruto was late, by Naruto standards anyway, Shikamaru saw by about an hour. There had been a ripple of apprehension in their bond around 9:15, but Shikamaru had dismissed it as Naruto worrying about being caught by ANBU before she could finish whatever it was she doing. But now as the clock ticked closer to eleven, the more worried he became. 

He could still feel Naruto but he wasn’t feeling the raging symphony of emotions that he normally felt. Uzumaki Naruto cycled through emotions like others cycled through socks and she felt each one intensely, something Shikamaru in her perpetual apathetic state of nonchalance had to get used to. Now however it felt like the bond had been deadened in some way and—

“The Uchiha Clan has been attacked by one of their own! The village is on lockdown effective immediately!” 

* * *

Naruto had kissed Konohomaru’s chubby cheeks goodbye and went into the market district Henged into the likeness of an old woman so she could buy herself some oranges to go with the bento that Yoshi-kaachan had made her. Today, the Uzumaki didn’t have any plans to fuck with the villagers (she _did_ do other things occasionally) and decided to just wander around the village until nine-ish which was when she would make her way to the academy to get chewed out by Iruka-sensei.

(She didn’t understand why the chuunin bothered. It wasn’t like her being late was a new development.)

Ever since she had agreed to give Iruka-sensei a chance, she and the academy teacher had gotten along better. His scent hadn’t carried the acrid stench of fear and hate a little over a week after that weird meeting that he had Bi-baachan and her attend with Shika and his parents. Now, the man’s scent was full of fondness, a discovery that had shocked Naruto immensely. Of course, his fondness was tinged with exasperation and annoyance at times but it was like a breath of fresh air compared to his earlier scent towards her. She was still surprised by the change at times—she couldn’t recall doing anything new beyond not being the huge bitch that she had been upon their initial meeting— but she knew to trust her nose and whatever it was that allowed her to _sense_ others.

Naruto was passing the Uchiha District when she smelt it—blood. 

The blonde paused and sniffed deeply before gagging. The metallic tang of blood was thicker behind the walls of the District. Her nose picked up the smell of chakra and her ears pricked at the clang of metal clashing against metal. 

Naruto hesitated. On the one hand, it _could_ be nothing. The Uchiha were weird after all and even more militant about their training regimes than Naruto herself. The District often had the underlying scent of blood mixed with sweat, anger, dango, and cats. But on the other hand, she supposed that the Uchiha were technically family in a way as Bi-baachan had been the Uchiha Princess before marrying Jiji. 

Deciding to check out what she hoped was nothing, Naruto strode to the entrance of the Uchiha District and walked in. 

* * *

Uchiha Shisui was not expecting to spend his Monday morning fighting his cousins ( ~~killing his cousins~~ )in order to stop them from plunging the village into civil war but here he was. As his tanto slashed across Elder Keisuke’s throat, he heard a distinctly feminine scream. One that he knew intimately from hearing it for days on end for three long tortuous months. 

Turning he caught a flash of gold running back towards the village proper. Cursing, Shisui performed a quick Shunshin in front of the fleeing Jinchuriki who skidded to a stop in front of him, eyes wide. He saw her glance at his bloodied tanto before her lips curled back in a snarl and her back straightened.

 _Was she gonna fight me?_ Shishui thought bemused. _She’s about ten years too early but I admire the effort._

“Oi ya fucking psycho! Whaddya think you’re doing?”

Shisui raised an eyebrow, his sense of bemusement heightening. “Oh ya know, stopping civil wars and delaying little girls from blabbing about it prematurely.” He said with a levity that he didn’t feel ~~There was blood on him. His hands, his blade, drowning his soul.~~

The crashing body of his little cousin Itachi into the wall behind him interrupted whatever the child was going to say in reply. Itachi’s ANBU gear was soaked with blood, splatter’s of their clansmen’s life blood flecked across his face in a gruesome pattern. The two shared a look. It was over then.

Shisui gestured to the Jinchuriki. The stillness in Itachi’s form belied his surprise at the girl’s presence. Like Shishui, he hadn’t expected her to be here. They hadn’t stolen those silencing and scent suppression seals for fun after all. No one should have bothered coming into the district until after the massacre. But somehow this academy student had gotten through not only the barrier that had been placed around the compound but had also gotten far enough into the district to see the results of the clan’s hubris. 

Itachi suddenly straightened and almost as if the girl knew what was going to happen, she closed her eyes and begin backing away. A good trick if she hadn’t had already made eye contact with the Uchiha heir ( ~~the clan head now, Uncle Fugaku was dead killed by Shisui himself~~ ). 

_”Tsukiyomi.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought a lot about whether or not I wanted to include Asuma in this story as a central player but each time I sat down to write this chapter, I could not stop imagining what Asuma and Naruto’s relationship could be like. In this story, Naruto doesn’t really have her cannon motivations—i.e. becoming Hokage—she’s a child who’s confused and angry and doing her best. If you’ve read the previous chapters then you know that Naruto does have a support system, but that support system is pretty limited in terms of how much love that they can show her which is ironic because her main support system is the family of the Hokage, the person who rules her life in every form. I’d like to think that two of those people in that group—Kotone and Asuma—rebelled against this restriction in whatever way that they could.
> 
> I then thought about how, Asuma, who to me has always been a very thoughtful and generally emotive character would relate to and interact with Naruto. I got the idea of him being the one person besides Shikamaru that she could be herself with and didn’t need to censor herself with. This relationship for Naruto is freeing and for Asuma transformative. Much like Boruto, Asuma chafed under the expectations and reality of being the son of the Hokage. I wasn’t intending for Asuma to see Naruto as a daughter, or this perception to lead to him leaving the village with the goal to be a better man and a better father than his own father whom he obviously has problems with but that’s how it played out. 
> 
> As someone who’s father was never in their life and never tried to be, writing Asuma’s POV was especially poignant and cathartic for me who wished that my father would have loved me enough to leave me and return back to me when he was ready. Alas, I’m now 21 and no such love or maturity has been shown by my own father. 
> 
> Lastly, the Uchiha Massacre. Another thing I wasn’t intending to write but just happened. I dunno if there is much that one can write about the massacre that hasn’t already been written and to be frank, I don’t really care about it lol. But, I do love Shisui and Itachi as characters, especially Shisui. I didn’t want him to die and after thinking about it, I imagined that with Naruto first living with the Sarutobi and now with the Nara, Danzo wouldn’t have the motivations that he had originally to steal the Sharigan—at least when it comes to Hiruzen being weak-minded and unwilling to utilize the Jinchuriki and the Sharigan. (I think I’ve demonstrated enough that Hiruzen is more militant than his cannon counterpart). She’s being trained by a former elite assassin and her daughter (Kotone). Of course, Danzo is still a snake but he’s more...reasonably evil than power-hungry evil. If that makes sense. 
> 
> The Uchiha are ridiculously important to the show in cannon—and by ridiculous I do mean that literally. The show’s called Naruto not Sasuke sooooo why do I know so much about the Uchiha instead of the Uzumaki? Crickets? Yeah. I don’t have anything against the Uchiha, but at this current moment, they’re not that important to the story but they most likely will be in later installments. If you feel like I skimmed over the massacre and all the politics and tension relating to it, then you’re right because I did. 
> 
> Definitions:  
> Omikami: “great god(dess)” or “the great god(dess)”  
> Shugonin Junoishi: (lit.) Twelve Gentleman Guardian Ninja; Twelve Ninja Guardian
> 
> A Few Notes:  
> -Kakashi, Asuma, Gai, etc. are all 21  
> -The Rookie 9 are all 7, Neji/Lee/Tenten are 8  
> -Shikaku, Choza, etc. (all the parents) are all between 31 and 35 (ages are taken from Minato’s death at 24)  
> -Yoshino is 28 (she’s 3 years younger than Shikaku and two years older than his youngest sibling)  
> -Hiruzen, Danzo, Koharu, and Homura are all between 62 and 63 (Cannonically, Hiruzen was 68 in Naruto when the Rookie 9 was 12, but I’ve decreased his age by a year for no real reason beyond not researching his age)  
> -Kotone and Kaoru, the eldest Sarutobi children are 24 (Kotone is older than Kaoru by five hours and thirty-seven minutes if you cared. Yes, that is a random number lol)  
> -Asuma left the Hidden Leaf in August a year ago, two months before Naruto’s second trial run at the academy and his 20th birthday (Asuma’s birthday is October 18)
> 
> Sorry for the long ass note but thanks for reading! I hope to the next chapter out by the end of the week.


	4. Interlude I: Reports

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A series of reports

**INCIDENT REPORT**

STATEMENT:

_At approximately 10:49 AM, ANBU Squad 5, Codenamed “Ro” responded to the scream of an unidentified female from the Uchiha District during our in-village patrol._

_The team stumbled across a barrier kept Squad 5 from advancing into the district beyond the entrance gates that Dog, the only one on Squad 5 with sealing knowledge, took down._

_(It should be noted here that the barrier tags used were ANBU grade)_

_Upon removing the barrier, the team was immediately assaulted with the smell of blood and fear. Upon this discovery, Dog dispatched Cat to bring reinforcements while Operatives Owl and Gekko advanced into the area with Dog taking the lead._

_Approximately three hundred feet from the entrance, Operatives Dog, Owl, and Gekko came across three figures identified as Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Itachi, and Uzumaki Naruto [ **redacted** ]. Both Uchiha were caked in blood. Uzumaki Naruto seemed physically and mentally fine._

_At approximately 10:53 AM, both Uchiha Itachi and Uzumaki Naruto dropped unconscious._

_[ **redacted** ]_

_Operatives Dog and Owl took both Uchiha into custody. Squad 5, under Dog’s command waited for reinforcements before investigating the area._

_At 10:57 AM, ANBU Squad 12, Codenamed “Natsu”, arrived on the scene with Cat to report to Dog for further instruction. Three members of [ **redacted** ] also arrived._

_10:59 AM, Squad 5 and 12, ventured into the area and found [ **redacted** ]._

_At 11:37 AM, the teams found a number of children and women hidden in a bunker under the district proper. Here, the reporter must note that there was several months worth of supplies including [ **redacted** ] found. Another bunker found register Uchiha Shinobi. Dog ordered for all in the [Shinobi] bunker to be taken into custody._

_The women and children were ushered into the Uchiha meeting hall building and surrounding structures._

_Squads 5 and 12 were ordered by Dog to begin [ **redacted** ]. Dog and Cat then proceeded to report to the Hokage for further instructions. Upon leaving the scene, Dog placed Gekko in charge._

**END OF REPORT**

* * *

**INCIDENT REPORT**

REPORTER: UMINO IRUKA

STATEMENT:

 _At approximately 10:53 AM, Nara Shikamaru dropped unconscious without warning. He was taken to see the academy medic at 10:55 AM once Primary Sensei, Umino Iruka, determined that the student had no physical injuries._

_Upon admittance to the medical ward, Nara Shikamaru began to wildly convulse and shadows began to become tangible within the ward._

_Head Medical Officer, Takagawa Minoru, sealed student’s chakra and ordered for him to be transferred to the General Hospital immediately._

_Umino Iruka was dismissed from the ward and returned to his previous engagements._

**END OF REPORT**

* * *

**MEDICAL REPORT**

TYPE: SH-CL-KG

REFERENCE NUMBER: UCH00451714

PATIENT: Uchiha Itachi

PROGNOSIS:

_Patient was brought into the hospital completely unconscious with chakra sparking wildly. Upon cursory examination, Patient’s KG, the Sharigan was found to be active and actively draining patient’s chakra._

_To prevent this, medical team attempted to seal patient’s chakra, but the seal disintegrated upon contact with patient’s skin. A chakra examining physician was called to look over the patient’s chakra network to inform primary medical team on how to proceed with medical care_

_The CEP’s prognosis determined that patient had a highly corrosive foreign chakra invading their system and eating away at their chakra networks. Furthermore, the invasive chakra had already burned through the chakra veins found in the patient’s eyes that enables usage of patient’s Kekkei Genkai, the Sharigan. CEP advised the primary care team to wrap patient’s eyes with chakra conducive bandages to try and absorb the malevolent chakra._

_CEP’s prognosis further determined that chances of patient being able to use clan KG is slim to none and that patient has high chance of being blind. Further, unless the team can find some way to absorb the invasive chakra, patient is in danger of never being able to use chakra at best and dying at worst._

_CEP estimates that patient has two to three weeks until the foreign chakra burns its way through patient’s chakra network._

**END OF REPORT**

* * *

**FROM THE DESK OF THE SANDAIME HOKAGE**

In place of the daily in-person council briefing, I am writing you this briefing instead. 

As you have already been made aware, the village is on lockdown. 

At approximately 10:59 yesterday morning, several members of the Uchiha Clan, including Clan Head , Uchiha Fugaku , were found dead in the Uchiha district. It has been estimated that some forty Uchiha were killed, thankfully, none were children. The perpetrators of this heinous act are in custody.

The second reason that I am writing you today is because of a massive security breach that occurred at the same time. It is not clear whether or not this breach was related to the Uchiha Massacre. A village weapon has gone missing from the village. No further details will be provided at this time to the council as a whole. Those who have an S-Rank security status and above will be given a general report of what the ANBU squads on the scene have reported.

The village wide lockdown shall last for two weeks from this date and phased reopening will progress after this period. 

Thank You, 

The Sandaime Hokage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I was hoping to have chapter 4 out, but I’ve run into a wall when it comes to actually writing the damn thing. 
> 
> Notes for this chapter:  
> -Team Ro is THAT Team Ro, aka the one with Kakashi in it  
> -Team Natsu’s name is a tribute to Natsu Dragneel from Fairytail. I love his name.  
> \- SH-CL-KG means Shinobi-Clan-Kekkai Genkai  
> -The squad numbers are random  
> -Yes Gekko and Cat are probably who you think they are  
> -I wasn’t intending to make Itachi go through that buuuuuuuuutttt....it fits so well with what I have him going through in Chapter 4 so...sacrifices.  
> -the redacted parts will be revealed soon, they’re not just there for fun


	5. Interlude II: The Prodigy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi ruminates on the consequences of his actions, Sasuke appears, and Shisui grieves.

**Death becomes the Uchiha and should have become you.**

There was much to be said about smart children among civilians. There was not much to be said about smart children among ninja. 

Smart children were expected. Dumb children were cannon fodder. Dumb children died easily. Smart children went down fighting. Smart children delayed the inevitable, by a few years. But there was always someone smarter, faster, angrier. Some other smart child who had the audacity of perseverance more than the others.

If smart children were the norm for the silent killers who haunted the hidden villages then prodigies were abnormal. 

There was not much to be said about smart children among ninja. 

There was much to be said about prodigies.

Prodigies died earlier but their impact lasted longer. Prodigies shaped generations of shinobi, struck fear into their mothers' breasts and terror into the wombs of their enemies. 

Prodigies died. Smart children lived. 

He did not die. 

Did he want to after all? 

What was left of the Uchiha but death?

* * *

"How could you?" The angry words richoceted off the walls of his mind. He did not need to see Sasuke's expression to know that his little brother's face was scrunched up in anger. The long face reddened in fury, eyes glossy in confusion and hope and fear, lips pursed in the same way that their father—

"Foolish little brother. What I did was for Konoha." And you. Always, always, _always_ you. 

"Sasuke." Shisui's voice is so quiet that Itachi barely hears him. He hadn't known that he was there with Sasuke. 

( _Sasuke who hated him. Sasuke who accused him of—Of what? What he_ had _done? Accused him of the lives he had taken. Ruining life as he knew it?_ )

"You must understand otouto, that the clan was going to start a civil war. A war that we would not have won."

An angry scoff reaches his ears. "We would have won. We're Uchiha, the strongest clan—"

"Strength means nothing!" Itachi has never raised his voice at Sasuke, has always been gentle and kind with him. But he cannot see, cannot feel his chakra. All there is the roar of pain thundering through his bones and the emptiness that the Kyuubi has left behind after the demon was done ravaging his mind. He cannot help his exasperation."Strength means nothing. It never has. There are those who are much stronger than the Uchiha, who have no dojutsu and less chakra. We would not have won." 

"You know nothing of war." That is Shisui. His older cousin sounds weary, so much older than his fifteen years. "I hope you _never_ do. Chibi," there is another angry noise from Sasuke, a sound of hands being slapped away by another pair. "You are a spring child, who knows not the heat of summer or the fear of gathering the harvest in the fall. You know nothing of the chill of death. Your brother has done you a grand kindness Sasuke. He has done this village a grand kindness. War is nothing pretty despite what the academy may teach you. Remember that."

* * *

"How are you feeling?" 

"Like shit. How are you feeling?" 

There is a long pause where Itachi imagines Shisui gaping in shock at his abnormal use of profanity. 

"You get mind fucked by the Kyuubi and the fox left you with a sense of humor?" Shisui asks incredulously. 

Itachi hummed. 

There is a snort somewhere above him to his left and a chair screeches as it is dragged towards his bed. "The Jinchuriki is gone. The Tsukiyomi _massively_ backfired but, uh, you know that?"

"Obviously. I'm blind _because_ of it backfiring. What do you mean the Jinchuriki is missing?"

"She's gone. After you cast the Tsukiyomi, a cloak of what we believe to be the Kyuubi's chakra enveloped her and used her body like a marionette. She was gone in a flash. No pun intended. You were unconscious for five days and in those five days we've been searching for her. Her trail disappears as soon as you get to the Fire-Lightning border."

"And us?" There is no point of thinking about the Jinchuriki. There is not much he can do to help in the retrieval effort as he is now. 

"The Uchiha have been cleared of all charges and will be moving back into the old compound. Mikoto-obasan is the acting head of the clan until you recover fully. The thing is though, there is a possibility that you won't be welcome back into the clan. There is talk of banning you."

"And what about you?"

"I haven't heard anything about banning me. But then again, that's probably because the public and the clan perception is that the Uchiha Massacre as it's being called, was your brainchild. I haven't been able to change anyone's mind."

"It _was_ my brainchild Shisui." Itachi murmured softly. 

" _And I helped you. We did this together._ "

"Ah, but it doesn't matter now does it?"

Dead was dead after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will say that I don't particularly like this chapter since I was going to kill off Itachi and Shisui in my original draft and then Itachi in my revised draft and then he just...ended up surviving in subsequent rewrites. 
> 
> I hope you like this third interlude which is supposed to be purposefully vague and sort of chopping. If it doesn't make too much sense or seems kind of weird, it's supposed to be. This chapter is in part for Sasuke's future character development but also Itachi's. 
> 
> This is the second to last of the Interludes which I hope to have finished by the end of the week so we can get back to the story with Chapter 4.
> 
> Ages:  
> Itachi- 13  
> Shisui- 15  
> Sasuke- 7


	6. Interlude III: What We Cannot Ignore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the POVs!
> 
> Kakashi enters stage left, a mother’s turmoil, and a death...or like six but only one matters if we’re being honest.

**Grief**

It takes Kakashi two years after his sensei’s death to realize that he hates his child. 

He hates her wide gummy smile, so much like Kushina’s, and those narrowed almond eyes that were sometimes cornflower blue, sometimes navy, sometimes indigo, and sometimes cerulean. He hates her hair, thick and neon gold like Sensei’s. He hates her kindness that reeks of Rin. Her total reckless abandon coupled with goofy compassion that smacks of Obito.

_He hates her._

He does not understand why the Sandaime places him on her guard despite his protests. He does not want to see the ghosts of his pasts. This little _thing_ who wears the face of his most precious person and has the soul of Kushina-nee. 

_He hates her._

But Hatake Kakashi is a soldier first and a person second so he watches the little girl named Naruto. 

He watches as she tries and fails to get an ounce of kindness from the villagers. He watches as she is bullied and taunted and poisoned and screamed at and

_He hates her._

It is four years after the death of his sensei that Crane drags a bloodied sack of flesh that Kakashi realizes _why_ he is so happy that Minato-sensei died before he could hear Kakashi’s response to his broken plea to “take of her. Be her big brother. Show her love. Can you do that Kakas...?”

The little sack is revealed to be one ~~Namikaze~~ Uzumaki Naruto and the bones in her legs are mush and there is intestine spilling out of her and where are her eyes and the rest of her fingers and how

_He hates her._

But he hates himself more. He cannot bring himself to go to the Memorial Stone for weeks knowing that he has been feeding his precious people lies. 

_”She’s so happy Minato-sensei!”_

_”Everyone loves her. She reminds me of you Obito.”_

_”She’s well taken care of. Don’t worry._ ”

He had not been able to tell Minato-sensei that he would take care of his daughter who had killed him because he would have been lying through his teeth. But wasn’t he already lying each time he went to the Memorial Stone? 

She was not well taken care of. The Sandaime first had her in the orphanage until she was two and she was placed in a room no bigger than a desk. No windows. No lights. A cat door for food that was slipped in. ~~That he had watched her eat off the floor like a puppy through said cat door.~~ She did not know her name until she was three. Could not speak properly until she was four and he didn’t know if she still struggled with words but she had a potty mouth that was for sure. 

She was not loved. She was hated. 

The only thing that the child was was alive and at the moment as he watched Crane clean the blood from her small frame, her status as one of the living was going to switch from _barely_ to _not anymore_ in a few minutes. 

_He hated her._

So why was it that he felt the same yawning chasm of grief open in his lower stomach that had when he felt the warmth of Rin’s heart beating weakly against his hand all those years ago? 

The world spun. 

Her flesh began to knit back together. 

The world tilted. 

Little whimpers shook her frame. 

The world was void of oxygen.

A tendril of red chakra escaped and formed a talon that dragged her intestine (small?large?) back into her abdomen. 

The world righted itself. Just a little.

Hatake Kakashi was a coward. 

_He hated himself._

* * *

**Denial**

She knew her father could be a ruthless man. 

A leader had to be, to a certain extent. 

Kotone had met the Yondaime and knew that underneath that cheery exterior was a perpetual winter. 

No one could kill a thousand men and women in a day and _not_ be inherently ruthless. Sarutobi Kotone did not give a single fuck what anyone said. Namikaze Minato was a ruthless bastard. Kotone believed he was the worst. 

(She always wanted to know how his wife dealt with him. Uzumaki Kushina, as she remembered the woman, was vibrant and kind. Kotone had watched her mother comfort the loud redhead after she had killed three people on a mission. Her father had told her this was common with the Uzumaki Princess when she had asked. “Some people are Shinobi by force and not by choice, Koto-chan. Uzumaki-san is one of those people. Shinobi by force are rather sensitive at heart. This occupation sucks the life out of them.” Kotone had nodded and thought about her brothers, Kaoru and Asuma. Kaoru was sensitive but had a core of steel that Asuma lacked. Kotone liked to think that Asuma’s core was made of gold, extremely valuable but soft and malleable.)

The ruthlessness that she had felt from the Yondaime was often absent in her own father unless two particular subjects came up: Danzo and Naruto. 

The former was a cause of grief and tension within the village. Shimura Danzo was one of her father’s best friends, one of his greatest rivals, and one of his most crafty enemies. The last two of which Kotone did not think deserved to be in the same list as the word _friend_ , but then again, she didn’t understand how Danzo _was_ her father’s friend. 

The man had tried to assassinate him after all. That wasn’t the mark of a good friendship. 

Yet, her father kept the man close and personally authorized and knew of the shady shit that he was doing. Objectively, Kotone understood: the Hokage could not be seen doing the dirty work that Danzo did. But stealing children and turning them into emotionless slaves was not _dirty work_. It was tyranny. Wiping out clan-specific villages—she did not know which one as the conversation had stopped between the two men when she had entered the room—was genocide. 

Her father’s latter source of “leadership prowess” was attached to her bubbly niece, Naruto. For years, her father had made sure the girl was isolated and alone. Had ignored the pleas of the Nara, Uchiha, and Hyuuga matriarchs to adopt the child. Had let her stay in that squalid storage closet where she had sat in her own filth for weeks at a time. Had let her be beaten and poisoned and humiliated. Had only ever intervened when it had seemed possible that the villagers might rape her. (The village condoned torture and trauma but not sexual assault. Wow). Had swooped in when things had become really bad to attach the child to him and thus, to the village. 

And it had worked. Mostly. 

Kotone wasn’t sure if either of her parents noticed the wariness that Naruto displayed around her father. She wasn’t sure if they saw the distrust lurking in her countenance whenever Hiruzen got _too_ close to her. 

Naruto wasn’t as dumb as her father thought.

(Kotone loved her for it.)

But—

“What’s your game old friend?”

“I have no game. I will give you Uzumaki Naruto for six months training in Ne, _if_ you find her.”

“You sound as if you’re doubting me, Hiruzen.”

A chuckle. “Maybe. Maybe not. It’s been almost a week and none of our best trackers have found her and neither have yours.” Her father gave a bemused snort. “Don’t take me for the fool I _let_ you think I am old friend. I know you’re searching for the Jinchuriki as frantically as I am. And for different reasons.” The threat in her father’s voice was unmistakable. 

“If you find her Danzo, bring her to me first. I will have Jiraiya look over the seal and then she’s yours for six months. _But_ , you _personally have to bring her Danzo._ ”

“I see.”

“I’m sure you do.”

* * *

**Anger**

“You _do_ know what you’re saying is treason right?” The Uchiha prodigy was the first to speak up. Uchiha Itachi’s eyes were bandaged and he was leaning against his cousin but Mikoto got the sense that her son was as quick as ever, chakra or no chakra, sight or no sight. 

“Yes, which is why I’m pitching it to you two and Uchiha-sama” the Sarutobi smiled in Mikoto’s direction, “first. I mean, you technically have committed treason recently. Against your own clan but...semantics.”

Mikoto watched her son stiffen, thin shoulders drawing up around his ears. Sarutobi Kotone was her mother’s daughter. And she apparently took Biwako’s legacy of sarcasm and manipulation hidden behind politeness and charming smiles seriously. 

“While that is true, Sarutobi-sama, what makes you think we want anything to do with whatever it is you’re offering?” That was Shisui. The son of her uncle looked relaxed but Mikoto could tell that the Sarutobi’s words had riled him up. As intended. 

_Full-fledged Shinobi in many ways, but children in others._

“Because it’s not a setup.” Mikoto straightened as she turned to see the regal visage of Hyuuga Hitomi and Nara Yoshino, two of her best friends. Behind the two women were their husbands, Hiashi and Shikaku. 

It was Yoshino who had spoken and she who had continued. “We, got a message from a little birdy,” reaching behind her husband, the small woman brought out the hunched form of Hatake Kakashi who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. “The birdy told us about a deal between Danzo and the Sandaime about _My daughter_. Good to know that _someone_ has the details though. Men are useless, wouldn’t you agree Kotone-chan?”

The only daughter of the Sandaime smiled the same Cheshire smile that graced Yoshino’s face. Mikoto felt the smile take over her own face and she didn’t have to look at ‘Tomi-chan to know that the woman was also sporting the same expression. The only thing missing was Kushina.

 _This was_ for _Kushina._

From the corner of her eye she saw both her son and younger cousin give full body shudders. 

“Now that everyone is here, should we plot an assassination?”

“Not on an empty stomach I think.” Hyuuga Hitomi had always been soft-spoken as a child and as a woman, she had never lost the airy quality to her voice. It had just gotten more commanding with time. Gone was the timid girl of her youth. 

Mikoto nodded and gestured to her two friends to follow her into the kitchen. 

The three went about preparing tea and onigri in silence before Yoshino, as usual, broke the peace. 

“Miki-chan? Have you lost your shit yet or...?”

“Wow, Yoshi, you’re as tactful as ever.” She had meant the rebuttal to sound as flippant as the words felt—as they needed to feel—but all that came out with a gargled whisper, thick with an emotion she could not understand and didn’t want to. 

“So the answer was no but you triggered it. So good going Yoshi-chan.” Hitomi’s hands were gentle on her back and she felt more than saw Yoshino awkwardly trying to pry her clenched fists open to get a tissue into one of them. Yoshino was always awkward when it came to crying people.

Was she crying? An experimental wipe of her face with the back of her hand said she was. 

Oh.

“Better now than later.” The harbinger of tears retorted softly before she joined the soothing hands that made up the flora of the island that was Crying Mikoto1.

“I just...I can’t hate him...or them...I...he’s my _son_. He’s my _son_ and I raised him and I—“ Mikoto could not remember crying so hard. Her words were coming out of her choked whispers, joining the soft harmony of the hiss of gas on the stove and the boiling of water for tea. 

“Did he kill Fugaku?”

“No! That was Shisui. That was...he told me that he was going to—why would he tell me that he was going to kill his _own_ father? I...I don’t know what to do. I...I understand but it hurts. It took me years, took _us_ years to love each other and now...who will I love? My bed is empty and my sons...Sasuke is so angry and Itachi, Itachi doesn’t even seem to exist anymore. If he would have _told_ us then we would have...Fugaku was _trying_. _He was trying_ but I guess ‘Tachi didn’t get _that memo_.”

There were hands in her hair and hands on her back rubbing in small circles. 

“It’s okay to not like your sons right now. It’s okay to not like your _life_ right now. It’s okay to be angry Mikoto. You were and never will be perfect. What do you feel?”

“I’m pissed.”

“At what? Who?” She thought that was Yoshino but couldn’t tell over the roaring of her ears. 

“The village. The clan. Shisui. Itachi. Sasuke. Myself.”

“Good.”

“Now let’s put it to good use. Fix your face while we get the tea and onigri ready buttercup.” Hitomi led her to sit at the dining table. 

Where were they? 

Mikoto stared at the worn wood underneath her feet. She was home. The main house of the Uchiha District. This floor was where her sons had toddled and learned to walk, where she and her husband had had impromptu tickle wars, where arguments started and ended, and where once, she and Fugaku had made love. 

She was home and she was pissed and she was worried for her goddaughter. 

When the tea and onigri was ready, so was she.

“Let’s topple the regime ladies.”

Hitomi’s small smirk and Yoshino’s full blown grin lifted her spirits as she walked back into the room with two of the sources of her misery.

She was angry. Pissed. But, being angry at her son and cousin would come later. Yoshino was right. Hitomi was right. 

If she could not live without her anger propelling her forward, she would mold it into something that would place her squarely on the road to _being ready_ to heal. Not heal, that would come later. But she _needed_ to try. For herself and her sons and her clan.

And her goddaughter. 

_For Kushina._

“We’ve got three different types of onigri guys, eat up and let’s do this!”

* * *

**Bargaining**

For a larger than life figure, Danzo died rather easily. But then again, _they did_ ambush him. So an easy death _was_ the point. 

Yoshino thought he should have suffered more. Hitomi idly agreed with her as she cleaned her blade on the sleeve of one of Danzo’s subordinates. 

“Such a shame that we were on such a tight timeline huh, Yoshi?”

“Yeah! I haven’t been in the field in six years and I get to off this motherfucker,” a vicious kick to the dead Shadow Kage’s head, “and I don’t even get the _opportunity_ to torture him. Even a little bit!” Yoshino whined to her friend. 

Hitomi rolled her pale lavender eyes at her dramatics as she began to fix her dark purple hair up into usual intricate bun. 

“I suppose.” 

“Miki-chan would totally be agreeing with me right now. You’re boring.” She sniffed.

Hitomi’s laughter started the pair on their circuitous journey home. 

She hoped Shika was having more fun on his end.

* * *

Shikaku took great satisfaction at seeing the Sandaime pale at the news as Hiashi announced it. One of the many tracking teams that had spent the past two weeks and three days searching for Uzumaki Naruto had encountered the man surrounded by dead “Kumo” Shinobi. 

They had also found an arm that had four Sharigan implanted in it. Funny how those missing Uchiha eyes popped up wasn’t it?

The only thing Shikaku did not know was whether or not the Sandaime was aware of Danzo’s Sharigan arm. He didn’t seem to be but the man wasn’t the Hokage for shits either. 

“I see. Thank you Hyuuga-san for the report. Our next order of—“

“Excuse me Hokage-sama but I don’t think we should gloss over the fact that Shimura- _san_ had four of my clansmen’s eyes implanted into his arm. I propose to the council that we investigate the matter further. After all, the Uchiha is not the only clan in the village with a Kekkei Genkai, or a dojutsu for that matter.” Mikoto’s degree was delivered flawlessly, Shikaku thought. Just the right amount of anger, shock, and ambiguous righteous indignation. 

“I agree. Why you ask? Because this atrocity must not stand. If Danzo had the eyes of the Uchiha implanted within his arm, what is there to say that he had nothing to do with the Uchiha massacre? It is only a logical conclusion,” Aburame Shibi added monotonously as the Homura and Koharu, began to angrily sputter in their late friend’s defense. “We are all aware that Danzo...is into some _distateful_ things”— _that_ was putting it mildly Shikaku thought—“and I would like to know the full extent of such things.” _One._

“Seconded. I’ve caught that slimy worm slithering around my pups too many times and now with what’s happened with the Uchiha? I want to know what the fuck he was up to.” _Two._

Next to him, Choza grunted in contemplation. But it was Inoichi who spoke next. “Agreed. The Yamanaka have too many jutsu that are specific to our family to be given to the wrong people. Even if those people are trusted by the village.” Damn. _Three._

“As someone who also has a dojutsu, I would not like to see my clan fall into the same state of affairs as the Uchiha. Quite frankly, this is long overdue.” Hiashi was a tad early but, _four_.

Choza turned to look at him eyebrows raised. He had known that his old friend would look at him for guidance despite agreeing with the rest of the Shinobi Council. The Akimichi were one of the Four Noble Clans, but they were the only one without a Kekkei Genkai. And they were not like the Yamanaka or Inuzuka either whose family jutsu was so specific to them that it may as well have been a Kekkei Genkai. 

Shikaku yawned dramatically before shrugging at his friend. “Troublesome. But obviously,” he said raising his voice a bit at the snarl Inuzuka Tsume sent his way, “I do agree. The Leaf has tolerated enough rot in its roots I think. It’s time to prune.”

Shikaku closed his eyes and tuned out as Choza clinched the vote and the council devolved into chaos around him. 

Discreetly, he pulsed his chakra into the small seal burned into his palm. 

He, Mikoto, and Hiashi had done their part. Now it was time for the kids to deliver. 

* * *

The seal on Shisui’s palm throbbed in confirmation a little after sundown five days after Sarutobi Kotone had come to the Uchiha District with her harebrained claims.

“We’re good to go.” 

Kakashi grunted in affirmation before he performed a few handsigns and a small pug appeared before the two. Shisui and Kakashi were hovering on the edge of the border between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire and the temperature change was really pissing him off. Was it always this fucking cold here? Was it going to get colder the deeper they went into the territory?

“-sui? Shisui?”

“Huh?”

“The doll? My ninken need it to get a scent.” Kakashi sounded impatient and antsy. Shisui didn’t blame him. Wasn’t he connected to the Jinchuriki in some way?

Fishing in his pocket, Shisui pulled out an unremarkable sealing scroll. A pulse of chakra had the scroll unrolling to reveal a worst for wear doll that was missing an arm.

Shisui didn’t even get a chance to hand it to the Hatake as it was snatched from him, scroll and all. 

“Do you have a scent?” 

The pug gave the doll a few sniffs. Before seeming to shrug. _Did dogs shrug?_ “The scent definitely goes beyond the border. It disappears after three miles though and it’s real faint Kakashi.”

“Thanks Pakkun.” Kakashi handed the dog a treat before dismissing him. 

There was an awkward silence where Shisui fidgeted in the cold and Kakashi stared at the border intently. More than five minutes had passed before Kakashi suddenly lifted his headband over his right eye to reveal the famous Sharingan that he had heard so much about. 

The mismatched eyes boring into him were daunting. 

“Tell Shikaku-sama that we’re on the move.”

* * *

  1. TM ↩︎




**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnd we’re done with the interludes! The next chapter shall bring our main players back into action...in some form. 
> 
> I’m not too good with action scenes so I kinda ignored them and this chapter is pretty dialogue heavy so if you’re not a fan of that, sorry. This one is another long one but I hope it cleared some things up that the second interlude didn’t or that you were confused about. I LOVE writing Shikaku’s POV. It’s so fun. I was really surprised about how easy it was to write Mikoto and Kotone too. 
> 
> Some Notes:  
> -The Uchiha were isolated from the civilians, not the ninja. Like Naruto has people who care and are willing to die for her (or in this case commit treason), the Uchiha had friends. This specific chapter focuses on the friendship between Hitomi, Yoshino, Mikoto, and the late Kushina, but they had friends.  
> -Itachi cannot use chakra or even see. RIP canon. Blind at thirteen. But he’s not completely useless.  
> -I don’t have many nice things to say about Minato as a father but I will say that I think he made a badass Hokage because of the ruthlessness that Kotone points out  
> -Fun fact: this chapter was supposed to be completely in Hiruzen’s POV. That didn’t happen.  
> -I also have mad beef with Kakashi. If you couldn’t tell.  
> -If you found references to the stages of grief in this chapter from the subtitles, that’s intentional. 
> 
> Translations:  
> Yondaime: Fourth Hokage  
> Ne: Root


	7. The Fox, The Kit, and The Deer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurama spirits Naruto away, Shikamaru and Naruto kinda reunite, and a chat between a possessive boy and even more possessive Biju.

Out of his three vessels, Kurama hates this one the least. Actually, the squalling infant that comes out of Kushina’s cunt is thought of fondly and with respect.

This is the only one of the seven eggs that that damned Namikaze had fertilized that _hadn’t_ been flushed out of his second jailer’s system when it came into contact with his chakra. This child _absorbed_ his chakra. No matter how many times he tried to forcefully abort her from the premises, the egg stubbornly stayed. 

That tenacity gave the little asshole his respect. For the nine months that they shared together in Kushina’s womb, he tried on and off to trigger a miscarriage—it had worked on two of the eggs before—which failed miserably. The child seemed to be suited to his chakra in ways that even his jailer, a handpicked Uzumaki, wasn’t. 

His chakra burned Kushina and he gleefully reveled in her loud declarations of pain whenever she _did_ try to use his chakra. Kurama’s roommate absorbed his chakra and then some. He could not help it when, in her seventh month of invading his unwanted territory, he began to curl his tails and chakra around the sac that she was suspended in. He could not help but to be unreasonably, and at times unwittingly, furious when the stupid jail with legs that was her mother did something stupid that may have hurt the child. 

It was around the seventh month of the egg’s existence that he began to think of her, as a _kit_ and not as a worm or monkey, like he did all other humans. She had as much of his chakra as she did her parents—and the brat had an abnormal amount of Uzumaki chakra. 

He was fond of her. When thinking about making his grand escape, the kit was the only human that he did not think to completely eviscerate upon his exit from the Leaf. 

Kurama would never admit, even years later at the birth of what the little spitfire dubbed his “grandkits” that he loved this child. 

He had a reputation to uphold after all.

~*~

Over the seven years of Naruto’s existence, Kurama saw her three times:

  1. When she was on the verge of starving to death at two because she had cried “too fucking loudly little demon bitch” and the child had entered the seal in her anguish, stomach growling viciously, blue eyes wide with confusion and _pain_.
  2. On her third birthday, she had appeared again in tears. Her lips a pale blue from an attempted drowning. While the seal did not transmit pain from the outside world, it did not stop that pain from coming into the mindscape. She was shivering and _still starving_ , her long blonde hair drenched and steaming from the unseasonably cold weather.
  3. Exactly one year later, Naruto appeared again. But instead of wide eyes looking at him in awed wonder, there was a crumpled bloody pile of _girl_ that materialized in front of his cage. Kurama had killed enough humans to know that a lack of eyes would not kill them, but a lack of intestine _would_. Before he could do anything though, her damnable ~~amazing~~ Uzumaki genes kicked in and began to regenerate everything except her intestine which were grotesquely hanging out. He did that repair himself.



Each time that the girl appeared in front of him, she looked at him with the same teary blue eyes that widened upon sighting him. Each time she wailed—it was only the second time that he realized that the obnoxious noise was _for_ him and not _because_ of him—and banged on the bars of his cage for a good twenty to thirty minutes before exhausting herself. Each time she named him “kitty. Fluffy kitty” and then disappeared from sight. And each time she returned, she did not recognize him. 

~*~

After three years with no visits, Kurama settled back into his routine of napping, cataloging the state of his prison, and watching the world through the girl’s eyes. 

Both Mito and Kushina had kept him chained, chakra suppressed and body bound within their seals. The seals of his first two jailers were airtight and he was hardly able to move and definitely unable to see or hear anything from the outside world. 

Naruto’s seal was different. 

(Though this information took him three years to realize as he assumed upon his third sealing that the Yondaime would have used the same suppression component in his seal that kept Kurama blind. It did not occur to him to check whether or not this actually _was_ the case despite the fact that he was _not_ chained and his chakra flowed freely. He was in a sewer and not staked and bound to an unseeable wall.)

Their chakra mingled together, the storm of her chakra mixing with the acidic quicksand that was his, gently batting at each other in curiosity. 

When he tried, he could easily tap into her senses, thoughts, and feelings. 

He was awake and aware when his kit decided to go into the Uchiha compound— _didn’t she know to stay_ away _from the Uchiha? They were cursed and toxic and she was bright and the key to every antidote_ —under some vague idea that they were “family”. He could feel her nose twitching, ears cocked, as she dived deeper into enemy lines, past a pathetic barrier seal that would keep anyone who wasn’t an Uzumaki out. 

His kit was quick on the uptake, no matter _what_ those stupid monkeys in her village thought and she quickly caught on that something was wrong.

The Uchiha were inherently atrocious so Kurama wasn’t surprised per se to find out that they were murdering each other. That was, after all how those demon eyes worked after all. Death was the trigger.

Naruto, on the other hand, _was_ surprised and reacted as any child would have: she screamed and began to run. 

They could hear their pursuer behind them and both human and demon were thinking the same thing: _don’t get fucking caught_.

But these Uchiha, while only a few years older than Naruto (Kurama could smell their decaying cells), were fast and caught up quick enough. 

When the curly-haired one cornered her, Naruto was only thinking of how to escape to get help. Kurama was thinking about how to kill them. The Uchiha should have _never_ existed in the first place, damn Indra to hell. 

So when the girl had begun to be caught in the Tsukiyomi, he did not hesitate to fling his chakra out at the Uchiha who thought he had the _right_ to fuck with his kit. 

And when he sensed the meat bags that Naruto identified as ANBU—Kurama did not know what ANBU _was_ but he was aware that Naruto held them to higher standard than the rest of the murdering monkeys—coming closer, he thickened his chakra into a cloak around her limp body and _willed_ it to move. 

He had always been beyond pissed that her father’s Hirashin had taken on a genetic form within her body. Before. Now he was eternally grateful when, after locating his closest sibling, it allowed him to carry her to safety. 

One of them was already imprisoned. The both of them would not be.

~*~

The nine siblings, known to the humans as Biju, kept up with each other through a shared mindscape mostly, but sometimes they met in person. Before Hashirama with the help of Mito began to dole them out like so many fruits at a market to the other meat bags who declared themselves leaders. 

Nowadays however, the Biju _only_ met in the mindscape that they shared, a remnant of being the Juubi. 

Kurama, as the oldest and most powerful, was the only one who had a range large enough to know where each one of his siblings was at all times and a general idea of how everyone was fairing.

(Over the past seven years, Matatabi had been resealed once, Shukaku had lost the plot, Saiken had more or less disappeared (from everyone except Kurama), Son Goku was even more bitchy than normal, and Chomei had died, reappeared, and been promptly resealed into a three year old child that she seemed to be both fond of and annoyed with.)

In the heat of the moment, he had _intended_ for Naruto to end up in the Land of Lightning with Matatabi and Octopops. Those two were probably the most human friendly, as between the two of them, they had had the most sealings and viewed being sealed as an inevitability of life instead of the heinous crime that it was. 

(Plus, as far as he could remember, Namikaze _looked_ a lot like the Usui, the ruling clan and the royal family of Lightning. Also, he recalled that Namikaze smelled like the Usui he had eaten many years ago, before his first sealing.

If he could get Naruto to his siblings in the Land of Lightning, then they could bring her to the Usui who would have to take care of her because of honor alone. Not to mention that Lightning possessing three Biju would be something that their hidden village, Kumo, would exploit and would use as an excuse to justify attacking Konoha. 

He hoped both villages destroyed each other in their hubris.)

He had intended to be going towards Matatabi and Octopops. He had overshot them, however, by a whole country. And found himself—Naruto—face to face with a tall yukata-clad boy with long brown hair and a pipe who smelled exactly like Saiken. 

The boy was staring at him—Naruto—in shock at her sudden appearance, long fingers clenched around his pipe. 

_Were humans as young as him supposed to be smoking?_

Shaking himself, Kurama asked, “Where am I?”

The boy blinked a bit before, “This is the Land of Snow.”

“Fuck.”

* * *

Minds, Shikamaru knew from his Uncle Inoichi, had a certain structure to them. Part of this structure was in part natural but a large part of it was due to _who_ the person was at their core. 

Uncle Inoichi had sat Choji, Ino, and himself down one afternoon and began to explain about mindscapes and their various shapes and functions. 

_”Mindscapes,_ his uncle had begun, are pretty rare. _Most people’s minds are like an empty space that reeks of them, but there is no structure. Mindscapes, on the other hand, are like this house we’re sitting in. There are rooms with different functions and purposes, and each room has its own layout and structure. In some cases, people can build upon their mindscape. These are called_ mind palaces. _The mind palace is another level to the mindscape where the owner of the mind is in complete control.”_

 _”Do I have a mindscape daddy?”_ Ino asked.

 _”No, not yet sweetie.”_ Uncle Inoichi laughed at his daughter’s pout. _”Most people are not born with a mindscape but rather, they are born with the_ capacity _to have one. Yamanaka are predisposed to having a mindscape. Nara, however,”_ the man continued gesturing to Shikamaru, _”are born with a mindscape because of how many streams of thought and consciousness they having going on at all times. A mindscape at birth is necessary for their development. Generally speaking, a Nara will also typically have a mind palace set up as well by the time they’re twelve.”_

 _”Is that why you don’t go into my dad’s head but you go into Uncle Choza’s”?_ Shikamaru questioned.

_”I see you’re as quick as ever Shikamaru-kun, yes that’s part of the reason why. Nara’s have complete control over their minds so it’s damn near impossible to try and find anything in there that they don’t want you to see. But, a Nara’s mind palace also acts as a natural barrier from mind games and Yamanaka techniques. One of the reasons that our three families are allied is because of how well we cover each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The Yamanaka are weak to the Nara on the mind front and the Akimichi on the strength front. The Nara have a weakness towards the Akimichi on the strength front as well and when it comes to jutsu as Nara naturally have smaller chakra reserves. The Akimichi are stronger both physically and in regard to chakra to both, but are weak to Yamanaka mind techniques. We all balance each other out.”_

Shikamaru was unsure of why exactly he was thinking about this now as he starred at the cloudless sky above him. He was in a field of chrysanthemums, peonies, daffodils, and sunflowers. Four types of flowers that he knew didn’t grow in the same environments, or even in the same seasons. Daffodils bloomed after winter, peonies in late spring, chrysanthemums in late summer, and sunflowers in the height of summer into autumn. 

_So wherever I am, it’s somewhere where someone has a hell of a green thumb_ Shikamaru thought starring at the never ending field of flowers. There was no breeze, but all the flowers were swaying. _Weird._

“Shika?”

Shikamaru whirled around to find Naruto, sitting several feet away from him, under a weeping bonsai tree that was way bigger than it should have been. The girl herself was smiling brightly at him, if a bit confused at his appearance. 

“Watcha doin’ silly?” Naruto made a come here gesture and Shikamaru quickly scrambled next to her under the tree. 

“What are _you_ doing?” Shikamaru retorted rolling his eyes. A sense of peace that he hadn’t felt since he had left her this morning for school washed over him and he succumbed to the urge to pull her into his lap and rest his chin upon the crown of her head. “Where _are_ we anyway? This doesn’t seem to be Konoha.”

Naruto hummed and shifted a bit on his lap to get comfortable before she answered. “Dunno but it’s not Konoha. There was a giant fox here but he disappeared left me here all by myself!” The girl’s tone was indignant at the thought of being left alone. Shikamaru was still stuck on the _giant fox_ part because what the fuck did _that_ even mean?

Naruto, for her part, was just happy to be reunited with Shika. The giant fox was cool, and weirdly familiar, but the asshole had left before she even got to introduce herself! He was super rude. (She was sure it was a guy cause only men were assholes right off the bat. Women had to be given cause to be assholes from what Naruto had observed.)

Whenever she was away from Shika, there was this achy feeling in her chest that made her feel weird. But as soon as she was back in his general vicinity, she felt better. She felt better than better! She felt like, electric or something. It was _awesome_.

Shikamaru settled as he could feel her excitement about being near him through their bond. He didn’t entirely understand the bond or how he instinctively knew what something meant when it happened, but he was always grateful to know that his presence made his sunflower feel the same as hers did for him. 

Sighing, the Nara heir took another look around them. Beyond this one tree, there didn’t seem to be any others. In fact, he could have sworn that neither the tree or Naruto had been around when he had first glanced around the place. Maybe he was dreaming?

“Not a dream Shika ttebayo!” Naruto hummed cheerfully as she interlocked their fingers together, sighing happily at the vibrations that began to course through both their bodies. 

He really needed to stop saying whatever he was thinking around her. 

“Then where are we?”

“Think it’s my mind? I mean, it smells like me and these are all my favorite flowers!” There was a pause before Naruto said, “well not the sunflowers, but _you_ call me sunflower so that must be why they’re here ya know!”

“Your mind? If it’s your mind then why am _I_ here?” If Naruto was right then there was no reason for _him_ to be here. He wasn’t a Yamanaka and had no idea how to even get into someone else’s mind. But—

“Well you said we’re connected and we feel connected so course you can pop up wherever I am!” 

Shikamaru couldn’t help but smile at the simplistic answer Naruto found to his question. One of the reasons he was so enamored with her was because of how easy things came to her, how _simple_ most things were. Naruto didn’t agonize over the things that she couldn’t change or worry over what she didn’t understand. She worked with what she had and if she didn’t have what she needed, she found a way to make due. She was much like a sponge that way. 

“Plus, this bonsai looks like the tree that surrounds the shrine in the Sarutobi compound ya know! Asu-oji and I always took naps under that tree!” Naruto recounted cheerfully. 

_So that’s why he had thought of Uncle Inoichi’s talk about mindscapes._ Shikamaru must have subconsciously known that he wasn’t in the real world anymore. 

“That makes sense I guess,” Shikamaru said giving their interlaced hands a squeeze. “You wanna take a nap?”

“Sure!”

~*~

When Shikamaru woke up, it was not to Naruto drooling on his shoulder, her elbow digging painfully into his side but rather to huge red eyes glowering over gleaming teeth bigger than him. 

Swallowing, Shikamaru through out his senses tentatively for Naruto, and recoiled when he found out that she was _not here and wasn’t even in the village what_

“As if I would let my vessel be imprisoned.” The voice was deep and gravely and seemed to sink in Shikamaru’s bones. 

‘ _There was a giant fox here but he disappeared!’_

Oh. 

“Yeah, oh.” The red slitted eyes seemed to stare into his very soul. The fox exhaled and there was a gust of wind that flattened Shikamaru and the surrounding flowers into the ground. Unlike him, the flowers popped right back up while he stayed cowering before the giant fox. 

“I would be surprised that you’re still in Naruto’s mindscape but you are her mate so it is to be expected I suppose.” The fox sniffed disdainfully at him before lowering his head and revealing

“You’re...you...” He could not get the words out. Behind the fox who’s head was as big as his house, were nine lazily swaying tails. 

“And you’re a useless meat bag who I haven’t eaten because my kit would be sad.”

“Your...what?”

“My kit.” There was a definite air of possession to the foxes words that made Shikamaru’s stomach churn in anger. 

Naruto was _his_ and no one else’s. 

The Kyuubi snorted. “I have known the kit before she knew herself. Have kept her mind intact after hours of torture that left her without eyes and helped her to survive the hellscape that you call Konoha. It was my tails that cradled her while she was in the womb and it was my chakra that marked her as _mine_. Foxes normally don’t bother with deer, but my appetite is vast and I would not mind some venison.”

Swallowing, Shikamaru forced himself to sit up under the oppressive heaviness that was the Kyuubi’s presence. _You need to take stock of the situation._ What did he know at this point?

  1. Naruto was not here or in the village.

  2. The giant fox she was talking about was the fucking _Kyuubi_ and not some random ass fox. Okay. (Okay?!?)

  3. Naruto had _some_ kind of connection to the demon if he was here in what Naruto asserted was her mind. He had no reason to doubt her since Naruto’s senses never lied. (Did she get those senses from the demon fox? Well that would explain why the villagers treated her the way they did.)

  4. He was...stuck? Being held? In Naruto’s mindscape. Somehow. And he had no idea how to leave.

  5. He _really_ did not like the Kyuubi staking a claim on what was _his_. Shikamaru didn’t care whether Naruto was the kid of the fox himself and the demon pulled some immaculate conception type shit, Naruto was _his_. _And Shikamaru wasn’t fucking sharing his sunflower._




“Are you done?” The Kyuubi said amused.

“What is your connection with Naruto, where is she and how do I get to her, where am _I_ , and what do you want?” The words left the Nara in a rush, a tumble of words that he hoped the Kyuubi caught because he didn’t think he could say them again. 

The fox gave him a cursory once over before lifting a disturbingly human like hand that the demon placed its chin on. A gleam of teeth flashed in what Shikamaru faintly thought was a smile but looked like a man-eating grin. 

“She is a Jinchuriki. Biju such as myself do not die, they are only sealed. She is my third vessel and the third Uzumaki to be my jailer. As for your second question, she’s unfortunately”, the fox’s face made a cruel parody of a grimace, “in the Land of Snow with one of my siblings. You’re currently...unconscious in a hospital but since I have relinquished my control on Naruto’s body, yours should be waking up soon.

“Third, I want to get Naruto away from that _blasted_ village. They do not love her and now that they have seen how I can shield her body, they will imprison her just as they have imprisoned me. _She will not have the same fate as me._ ”

“You love her.” It wasn’t the question that Shikamaru had intended it to be. 

“I hate her less than all the others.”

“You—“

“If _you_ love her, you will not tell those steaming piles of walking shit _anything_ about this conversations or Naruto’s whereabouts.” Shikamaru did not have to ask who ‘those steaming piles of walking shit’ was, he had a very clear mental image that it was every adult that he had ever come across. 

“I do love her.” Shikamaru stated resolutely. “And I won’t tell anyone, though it seems life everyone knows about you.” The great demon scoffed at that. “You never answered how I would get to her.”

“You won’t. As you are now, the other meat bags would track your ass in a second and use you to bring Naruto back kicking and screaming.”

“Then how will I see her!” He could not help the desperation that tinged his voice. He _needed_ Naruto. Needed to see her safe, to feel her in his arms, to listen to her ramble on about everything and nothing. She was _his_ and he was hers and he had to be near her. 

“Distance makes the heart grow fonder boy.” The words were callously said but Shikamaru heard the notes of pity that underwrote the comment. Another sign from the Kyuubi had Shikamaru struggling to stand. “Naruto is...unflinchingly loyal to those who show her an ounce of kindness. You have shown her more than kindness, you have shown her _love_ , something only two other people have. I hope that my sibling manage to convince her to _never_ return to that shithole village, but knowing her she _will_ return. For you and that crybaby ass little appetizer and the chain smoking monkey.

“If she unfortunately returns, you better make sure that she is protected. The chain smoker, Asuma, is your best bet. And the woman who has your eyes. Those two are the only two that I trust to not be mired so deep in the swamp that you Leaf monkeys call the “Will of Fire”. If the kit steps one foot inside a cell, has one sealing tag placed on her, she will be looking for a new mate. Now, you’re waking up Deer Meat. Remember what I said.”

The world began to fade away until all that was left was a pair of glowing red eyes that stared at him until _something_ seemed to click into place and he awoke with a gasp. 

The sound of shattering glass brought his attention to his mother who gaped at him for a moment before crushing him into her ample chest. 

“Maru-kun, my baby boy...” His mother’s shoulders shook as she rocked him and sobbed. 

Squirming, Shikamaru managed to free his face from his mother’s chest to rest his head on her shoulder. He felt so drained and tired. He could sense Naruto, somewhere in the corner of his mind, groggy and grumbling. Feel her shock at her new surroundings. He got a flash of pure white snow and a golden eyes, one hidden behind chocolate brown bangs, before it was gone and he was back in his mother’s arms.

_Naruto...please come back to me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! This is my longest chapter and very dialogue heavy. Again. I swear I don’t like dialogue as much as I seem to. 
> 
> Anywho, it really never made sense to me why Kurama hated Naruto because unlike Kushina or Mito, he never did anything to Kurama. Yeah, they mutually hated each other after Naruto was aware of him, but that wasn’t from a place of hatred for Kurama himself but rather what he represented for Naruto’s life. I have this head canon as you can see written out in the chapter that Kurama just made Kushina have a slew of miscarriages (if the fertilized eggs managed to survive the onslaught of his chakra while they were initially being fertilized) and “passed” eggs in her periods that were actually kids, but Kurama forced her body to treat them like any other period egg. Naruto was the one who not only survived but who also genetically mutated from exposure to his chakra. 
> 
> This mutation is shown through her whiskers (that Kurama mentions) and her senses (that Shikamaru notes). As I’ve hinted at in A Possibility, the first work in this series, Naruto is aware of _something_ going on with her system, but she doesn’t exactly know it’s the Kyuubi. Finally, Naruto was originally supposed to have a chat with Kurama in this chapter but I switched it to Shikamaru instead as I have plans for him and the rest of his family. 
> 
> General Notes:  
> —When Kurama calls Naruto “the little asshole”, that’s a reference to the fact that humans are deuterostomes, aka we form our assholes before any other body part  
> —Daffodils bloom in the spring but I specifically note that they “bloom after winter” as a nod to the fic by the name Daffodils Bloom After Winter by vannahfanfics here on Ao3 which I love and highly recommend  
> —each flower in Naruto’s mindscape has a specific meaning: Daffodils-rebirth and new beginnings; Sunflowers-adoration, loyalty, and longevity; Peonies (which are my favorite flower)—bravery, honor, and good fortune; Chrysanthemums—happiness, love, longevity, joy, and (specifically in Japan) fall and the country of Japan.  
> —each flower also represents a facet of the story or someone: Daffodils—Naruto; Sunflowers—Shikamaru (along with Shikamaru and Naruto’s relationship); Peonies—the political and structural changes that are being made in the village as Naruto is gone; Chrysanthemums—the main desires of the characters  
> —Shikamaru wakes up after the death of Danzo, but before Shisui and Kakashi begin their hunt for Naruto; so about two weeks and three days after the Uchiha Massacre give or take  
> —Kurama’s chakra is not the only chakra source that caused a mutation in Naruto, did you catch it  
> —The Usui clan of Lightning is made up and the name is from Usui Takumi, the male lead of the anime The School President is a Maid (or Maid-Sama). A very awesome anime that you should watch with an even better manga  
> —The Land of Fire is in the middle of all the other major hidden villages and thus shares borders with all of them  
> —The Land of Snow is directly above the Land of Lightning  
> —Kurama didn’t immediately “flash” to the Land of Snow, he only managed to make it to the Fire-Lightning and then the Lightning-Snow border and spent a lot of that time walking throughout all three countries  
> —The timeline is finally all caught up and from here on out, unless noted in the work itself, everyone is operating on the same timeframe


	8. A Desecration of Trust and Loyalty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Shikamaru is really going through it. 
> 
> Shikamaru begins to plot, Shikaku laments, and Yoshino wonders.

“So,” Shikaku started, lips pursed as he stared at the defeated countenance of one his oldest friends, “you still can’t get in?”

Inoichi grimaced. He was the _best_ mindwalker that his clan had ever seen and here he was being repelled by the mind of a seven year old boy. Shikaku knew that the man’s pride was shot down. Bad.

“Every time I enter his mind, I just see a fucking door with sunflowers carved on them. No matter how much I push and push, I cannot get through that fucking door.” Which was fucked since he could easily walk through the rest of his nephew’s mind. 

The kid already had a very ornate mind palace set up, but instead of rooms set up—hence the name mind _palace_ —Shikamaru’s mind was a dizzying plane full of various landscapes. The central landscape was a sunny one, fat fluffy clouds glittering in the ever persistent sunlight, with huge clusters of oak trees surrounded by sunflowers. Deer dotted the land and grazed upon literal clouds that would occasionally float down from the sky and root themselves into the earth. 

If Inoichi wasn’t so pissed that he was blocked from the only place he actually _wanted_ to be in, in his nephew’s mind, he would be impressed by the level of detail that Shikamaru’s mind had decorated his mind palace with. Inoichi had never seen skies _that_ blue or clouds _that_ fluffy. 

But he was pissed and Shikaku could see it all over his face. 

“Well at least he’s been pretty obvious about where he doesn’t want you to be.” From what Shikaku had heard from Ino, the Sunflower Door was smack dab in the middle of a crystalline lake , just sitting there. 

Inoichi snorted. “Yeah. Little asshole.”

Shikaku couldn’t help the smirk that crossed his face as he heard the grudging respect laced with annoyance in his friend’s voice. He, himself, was proud of Shikamaru. _Seven, with a fully functioning mind palace? Fucking amazing._

“Who’s a little asshole?” Yoshino asked rounding the corner that separated the living room from the kitchen and dining room. His wife was wiping her hands on a dish towel that seemed to be glued to her whenever she spent more than five minutes in the house. He used to wonder if it was just a _Yoshino_ thing until he found out that Kushina and Mikoto also had the habit of just carrying around a dish towel. 

“Our son. Ino can’t get into his mind and this is his fifth time trying.” The son in question was lying unconscious on the couch opposite the armchairs that Shikaku and Inoichi sat in. 

“Oh.” Yoshino said mildly. Unlike the two of them, she didn’t seem too worried about Shikamaru’s active resistance to keeping the location of Naruto-chan a secret. 

Even though she and her friends had been more than eager to spill the blood of Danzo and the Hokage after Sarutobi Kotone had come to the Uchiha about the Hokage’s proposal to Danzo. 

“Oh?” Shikaku asked in disbelief. He expected Yoshino—and Hitomi and Mikoto and Kiyoko who had been dealing with a sick Choji at the time and thus couldn’t plot with the other three—to be more...frenzied. Under Nara law, a human fixation amounted to the same thing as a fiancée or a marriage depending on the age of the two involved. Naruto-chan was Mikoto’s goddaughter and both Hitomi and Kiyoko were tasked by Kushina to take care of the girl if anything happened to Mikoto. So then why...

His wife gave him a look that clearly said that he was _fucking stupid_ and it physically pained her. 

“If Maru-kun isn’t telling us shit, it’s because he doesn’t trust us. Also,” Yoshino continued interrupting his thoughts of trying to figure out what he had done to make his son _not_ trust him. “He’s not in pain, so he must be in contact with Naruto in _some_ way Shika. Honestly for a genius you’re fucking stupid.”

“Yoshino-chan, while that may be true, Shikamaru-kun has the same amount of Kyuubi chakra running through his veins that Uchiha Itachi did.” Inoichi did not have to mention that the Uchiha heir was both blind and forever unable to use chakra ever again. 

“I know. I heard you the first time.” Yoshino said. 

Shikaku raised an eyebrow. “And you’re not worried...like, at all?”

He felt like he was missing something. He _knew_ he was missing something. 

“Oh I’m worried, but not for Maru-kun.” His wife shot Inoichi a _look_ as he sucked in air to retort. “If the Kyuubi wanted to hurt Shikamaru, it would have. The thing burned Uchiha Itachi’s chakra coils alive. It left the ANBU teams at the site of the Uchiha Massacre with _third-degree burns_. Uchiha Shisui is lucky to have full use of his left arm, he was burned so bad.”

“Obviously,” Yoshino continued, “the demon’s chakra is corrosive beyond belief and acidic on top of that. Miki-chan told me that the wall where Itachi-kun tried to trap Naru-chan in the Tsukiyomi is _still_ burning. I don’t think it’s wrong to assume that the Kyuubi’s chakra is sentient, much like Kushina’s chakra was and Naruto’s chakra probably is. The only difference is that Uzumaki chakra is not as...lethal. The point is however, that if Nine-Tails wanted Shikamaru to be hurt, he would be. What does it say that he isn’t?”

Indeed. 

~*~

Shikamaru was starting to get _really_ irritated with his dad and uncle. He knew, objectively, that they were trying to help. But. 

They were really messing up his chance to corner his mother alone. 

It had only been two days since he had woken up in the hospital. Two days since he had met and talked to the Kyuubi. And two days since he had been trying, unsuccessfully, to get his mother alone. 

This was normally not a hard thing to do. Getting his mother alone, that was. But his father and uncle were monitoring his every move, his uncle jumping into his mind every two hours, and his father dragging him in front of Hyuuga Hiashi, the Hyuuga Clan Head, to monitor the amount of Kyuubi chakra that was in his system. 

He was so _tired_. 

He just wanted to talk to his mother. Find the “chain smoking monkey” and get to Naruto. 

Was that too much to ask for? Apparently.

“Hiashi-dono is here to—“

“I’m not going.” Shikaku raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru’s tone. He had always been an easy kid, a pliant kid who never fussed about anything, even as an infant. 

“What?”

“I _said_ ,” Shikamaru began using the exact tone his mother used when she was incredulous that she was having to repeat herself, “that I’m _not going_.” If his father also heard the unspoken, ‘what part didn’t you understand the first time’, that wasn’t his fault. 

Shikamaru saw his father’s eyebrow twitch. Whether in annoyance or something else, he couldn’t tell and he didn’t care to. 

The two were in his room, a large space decorated in earth tones that sported a raised platform that held a kotatsu that housed his custom shogi board and a skylight that dominated the ceiling. On the side furthest from the door, a pair of shoji doors let out onto the wrap around back porch and besides the bed, the rest of the room sported built-in bookcases crammed with books and nicknacks. 

Shikamaru had closed his eyes and thought he was finally done with this conversation before he heard his father sigh and felt the bed sink next to him. Scowling but still not opening his eyes, the boy relaxed his body after adjusting to the added weight of his father. He was sitting on Naruto’s side of the bed. 

“Shikamaru, you have to go see Hiashi.”

“If the Kyuubi wanted to do something to me he would have.” Shikamaru froze as he realized his mistake. 

His father wasn’t supposed to know that _he_ knew why he continued to let the Hyuuga clan head inspect his chakra. Shikamaru wasn’t supposed to let it be known that he knew about the Kyuubi in the first place. 

_Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck—_

“I see.” His father didn’t need to elaborate for Shikamaru to understand what he _did_ see. 

“Shikamaru, where is Naruto?” Shikaku’s voice was soft but his tone was anything but. This was not his father but the Jonin Commander. 

Shikamaru didn’t dare open his eyes. He may have been slowly getting closer to beating his father at shogi, but his poker face was nowhere near his father’s level. Not that he needed to make eye contact with the man for him to know he was lying. 

“I don’t know.” 

There was another moment of silence between the two before his father sighed and petted his head as he often did and left his room. Shikamaru could not help but feel like he had crossed a line that he should not have. He had never bothered to lie to his father before, had always trusted the man with his secrets and fears and looked up to him as a role model. His father had always been the type of person that he wanted to be like. He was strong and smart and respectable. 

Shikamaru could not trust him though. Not with this. Not with Naruto’s safety and happiness on the line. She was more important than the clan or the village. 

And his father was a product of the village, the right hand of the Hokage, answering directly to him. Shikamaru had many theories bouncing around his head after speaking to the Kyuubi. One of which was why the demon had specifically named his mother—“the woman who smelled like him”—and Sarutobi Asuma, a relative of the Hokage that Naruto called ‘uncle’. If the demon knew of his mother then surely it knew of his father and thus, Nara Shikaku’s position?

The Kyuubi had not said it but it was implied: _do not trust anyone close to the Hokage._

The Kyuubi had been right. 

In the two days since he release from the hospital, he had gone with his mother on trips to the market and realized how the village had changed. Had heard about the death of Shimura Danzo, one of the advisors to the Hokage, and heard about the rumors relating to Naruto and the Uchiha. 

(‘ _Have you heard, the demon is being locked up somewhere in the village!_ ’

‘ _Serves it right the little bitch, I heard from Tomoe-chan that she blinded the Uchiha heir._ ’

‘ _What?! Well, I don’t know why I’m surprised. I just hope the Hokage kills it so that we can all live normally now. I mean...I shouldn’t be terrified to go to the market because I think that thing might show up._ ’

‘ _If Kazuhiro-san and his ilk would have succeeded in killing it all those years ago we wouldn’t even_ be _in this situation._ ’

‘ _Right. I trust Lord Third but I don’t know what he was thinking when he passed that law four years ago forbidding anyone to hurt it. It’s not like it can feel pain anyway! Just because the demon is wearing a child’s face doesn’t mean it’s not still a demon._ ’)

In the end his father was the Jonin Commander. He reported directly to the Hokage, the man that Naruto called _Jiji_ , and carried out his orders. The Hokage was the person who had allowed his sunflower to suffer, to wither in the cold that was the villages hate towards her. Sunflowers needed warmth to bloom. 

The Hokage denied her this warmth. His father, his uncle, and all the others helped him keep perpetual shade over Naruto, denied her the _right_ to grow. They treated her more as a thing, a bargaining tool, than the amazing person that she was. 

It hurt. It hurt so much to be away from her physically. But he would do whatever he needed to do in order to keep her safe.Even if that meant he had to hide the tremors of pain that wracked his body, could only see her in his mindscape, and had to forgo sleep, he would. If the Land of Snow was where she could bloom, then he would make sure that she _stayed_ there. 

In the meantime, he would build a greenhouse that ensured that she would have the space she needed to grow when she came back. But for that, he needed help. He needed to train. 

And he needed to get rid of the shade. Starting with the Hokage.

There was point, he thought, where there were too many trees blocking out the sun’s light to let the plants grow on the ground. 

It was time to plot, and plan and prune. 

~*~

Treason, Nara Hayami thought amusedly, seemed to be in the air.

Her nephew was more likely to go to her youngest sibling, Chie, for help if his father didn’t have an answer, so she was greatly surprised when he knocked on her door at three in the morning. The boys eyes were bloodshot and he was clutching a stack of papers to his chest. 

That was two hours ago. Now though—

“How did you get this?” She never thought of Shikamaru as the infiltration type despite the fact that almost all Nara were predisposed to it. He seemed more like Shikaku and Chie, a strategist. 

“What matters Obasan is whether or not it’s _true_.” There were six cups of coffee littered across the table between them and only two of them belonged to Hayami. 

_Is it true?_ Hayami thought to herself giving the formerly sealed documents a cursory once-over again. She didn’t need to look at them to know what they said

— _Wedding Certificate of one Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina_

— _Birth Certificate of one Uzumaki Naruto, born to one Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina_

— _Death Certificate of one Shimura Danzo, cause: murder. [Read: Political Assasination.]_

— _ANBU Report detailing the Uchiha Massacre_

— _Medical Report detailing the blindness and inability to use chakra by one Uchiha Itachi, cause: contact with Kyuubi chakra_

— _Personal journal of the Hokage, questioning_ who _killed his “dear” friend Danzo_

“Well?” Shikamaru implored. 

“Not sure about the Hokage’s journal but the rest is true enough.” 

Hayami watched the flicker of emotions play across Shikamaru’s face, so much like her sister-in-law. She hoped the kid mastered Shikaku’s infamous poker face as soon as possible. 

“I see.” Shikamaru then began to gather the papers before he stood up, legs trembling, and began to walk towards the door. 

“Shika-chan where do you think you’re going?”

“To put back the evidence and then take a nap.” And before she could tell him to wait, to stay, he was gone. 

~*~

“So,” Akimichi Kiyoko began stirring her tea, “you mean to tell me that you three” she pointed at Hitomi, Yoshino (who waved sarcastically at her), and Mikoto “planned the murder of Shimura Danzo?”

“Yep!” Yoshino grinned. She didn’t need to look at Hitomi to her left to know that she was rolling her eyes. 

The four friends plus Nara Hayami were sitting in the living room of the Nara Main House under three heavy duty privacy seals. 

“And you didn’t invite me?” Kiyoko whined indignantly. Akimichi Kiyoko was a curvaceous woman who was 5’8” tall with a shock of auburn hair and an easy going smile. 

Yoshino rolled her eyes fondly. “Choji-kun was spewing chunks everywhere. No one needed to catch anything from you Yoko-chan.”

The Akimichi Matriarch scowled before turning her attention to Yoshino’s sister in law, Hayami. 

“And you’re telling us that _Shikamaru_ stole documents sealed in the ANBU archives and now knows that his girlfriend is the daughter of the Fourth Hokage and has evidence that the _Third_ Hokage thinks Danzo was murdered by someone in the village.”

Hayami nodded. “Yeah, though I found out that the journal entry he found was one he copied from the actual journal of the Hokage, he didn’t steal it.”

“I think the better question is how he even knew to look for those things in the first place.” Hitomi interjected. 

“I think he’s in contact with Naruto through the Kyuubi. I mean, with Kushina, I wasn’t aware that the Kyuubi _was_ aware of anything outside of its seal. But if I’m right, then the demon fox was much more aware than we thought it was.”

“Why would the beast even care to keep Naruto-chan in contact with Shikamaru anyway? Its chakra has to be the link between the two.” Mikoto’s observation launched the five ladies into thought. 

_Why would the Nine-Tails care about the two children communicating_ , Yoshino wondered. Because they _were_ communicating, of that Yoshino was sure. She had watched her son suppress his pain from being away from his fixation throughout the day, only to be puzzled when Shikamaru would take a nap and wake up refreshed and _alive_ again.

The Kyuubi was a demon, but if it was making sure that Shikamaru and Naruto kept in contact with each other, then she was grateful to the beast. 

“I thought...well I hoped that Shikamaru would tell Shikaku something but...he hasn’t. I mean, he’s been avoiding his father and he _never_ does that. He tells Shikaku everything but now he only greets him.” And wasn’t that curious? Shikamaru had always been closer to his father than to her, something that used to hurt her feelings but now made her happy to see and observe. Shikamaru was such a closed off child and him being able to open up, to anyone, even if it wasn’t her was like a miracle. 

But after he had woken up from his coma in the hospital, Shikamaru had been giving Shikaku the cold shoulder. Yesterday when Shikaku had went to fetch Shikamaru to have Hiashi-san check his chakra network, he had come back sans Shikamaru and with his face completely void of emotions. She watched her husband chat with the Hyuuga Clan Head, thank him for making the trek, and escort him out of the compound. 

As soon as Shikaku had come back into the main house though, his entire face had crumpled into grief, the likes of which Yoshino hadn’t seen since his father died. 

_”Shika? Shika? What’s wrong?_ ”

“ _He doesn’t trust me anymore. He...what have I_ done _to my child that he cannot bear to look me in the eyes anymore? Yoshino_ please.”

She didn’t have an answer for him yesterday and she didn’t have an answer for her husband now. 

There were three people living in the Nara Main House but only one of them was actually living. Shikaku was a ghost and Shikamaru...Shikamaru was more motivated than she had ever seen him, seeming to be responding to some higher power that pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed him. Where he was being driven, she did not know. But the _hungry_ , downright predatory look in his eyes scared her. He was like a man who was caught in the throes of religious fervor, the central question of his life centering around seeing god. 

Before, when Naruto was with them and her son’s reach, the temple that her son worshipped at was loud and blonde, his god bewhiskered and quick to give out smiles to her favorite follower. 

Now, the god was gone taking her smiles with her and the temple was desecrated, its holy sacraments destroyed and the hymns that echoed through its corridors gone unsung. 

She had not known she was crying before she felt Hitomi’s hands, ever soft, dabbing a handkerchief on his face. 

“He may not trust Shikaku, Yoshi, but perhaps he trusts you. Ask him. That may be what he’s waiting for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!
> 
> This will be my last update until sometime next week or a bit later as I have midterms coming up this week and will most likely be studying for them. So, no promises on the next chapter. 
> 
> With that being said _I do_ promise that we shall finally see where Naruto is and what she’s doing along with how Kakashi and Shisui are doing with their “hunting”.
> 
> This chapter, while probably boring, is really integral to Shikamaru’s character development and to the general worldbuilding.
> 
> Some Notes, as Usual:  
> —Shikamaru got into the ANBU archives by letting his shadow do it’s thing. I’ve kinda hinted at the fact that since fixating on Naruto, Shika’s shadow has a tendency to take shape in ways that is abnormal for Nara, this is just one of those ways and him breaking into the archives did not really fit with the overall scene so I didn’t write it  
> —If you remember from the second chapter of this story, Nara Hayami is called “Hachidori” or the Hummingbird because of her ability to get information. If anyone would know the answers to the questions Shika had, it would be her  
> —Yoshino is catching on  
> —Shikaku is having a crisis  
> —Naruto and Shikamaru are meeting regularly in the mindscape and yes, she’s still in the Land of Snow. So while Shikamaru is in pain because of their separation, it’s manageable. Naruto is not in pain because the Kyuubi’s chakra is residing in Shikamaru which kind of acts as a point of physical contact for her


	9. A Jinchuriki’s Reason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto reflects and makes a decision of no return, Utakata offers her a change of pace, and Kakashi and Shisui get a surprise. Kinda angsty.

**Ikigai**

**Orgin: Japanese; The reason for a person’s existence.**

~*~

She missed Shikamaru. 

Terribly.

But here, in the Land of Snow with Utakata, she was so... _happy_. 

There were no glares and whispers. No intent to maim or kill from anyone. 

She was not the demon girl.

She was Uzumaki Naruto. 

A child. 

A person. 

She could never remember a time where she had thought of herself as a person like everyone else. She _knew_ that she was different. 

Knew that other people did not determine whether someone was safe or not through scent and something _else_. Knew that other people did not know the feelings of everyone they passed; could not tell that the mother in the market herding three children was drowning in grief, that the dirtier than normal child sullenly following his father was absolutely terrified of him and what he would do if he misbehaved.

She knew that her teeth were too sharp, her eyes too slanted and too wide, her hair too bright, and her aura too dense and heavy. 

But still, Naruto _tried_. 

Tried to be like those around her who didn’t have storms seething under their skin. Tried to be like those who didn’t have fangs and a preference for hearty food, the bloodier the better. 

She tried to hide her differences even when she didn’t know why she was doing, when she didn’t even know her name and thought it was _monster demon freak thing beast abomination murderer_. 

But it was hard to hide when you were the apex predator, the container of the monster under the bed, with hair so bright and teeth so sharp that it reflected light and contained it so beautifully that it caught the eye and held it. 

She had read once in a hunting manual that people instinctively knew when they were in danger.

And who was she if not danger itself?

She was Uzumaki Naruto, a storm. A natural disaster. A whirlwind of force and pride and danger that could not be contained.

And all of that was before one considered the Kyuubi. 

~*~

The thing that Naruto had become aware of almost two months ago turned out to be the giant fox that she had seen after falling asleep for some reason at the Uchiha compound. 

The giant fox turned out to be the Kyuubi. 

Which...in hindsight wasn’t _that_ surprising if Naruto really listened to the things that the villagers spat in her direction like so many poisonous senbon buuuuuuuut, she wasn’t really in the habit into giving them more attention than absolutely necessary. 

No one wanted to hear themselves being berated for existing after all . 

The Kyuubi—Kurama, he’d said his name was—was greatly offended when all she had said in response to his ‘grand’ reveal was “well that makes a lot of sense. You’re why everyone hates me. Which sucks ass for both of us I guess.” She supposed that the furball was expecting some kind of meltdown, but Uzumaki Naruto only threw tantrums over ramen and being forced to interact with the villagers (read: go to school). 

_She wasn’t a fucking baby._

A demon, he had called himself. Naruto didn’t think demons were fluffy and soft like Kura-chan—the fox had reluctantly let her pet his paw/hand—and were bigger than the Hokage Mountain which was the biggest thing Naruto had ever seen. (Well maybe demons _were_ as big as mountains but Naruto thought it made more sense for them to be, like, smaller, more people-sized so that they could do demon stuff). And they didn’t speak about their parents with such reverence or divulge their names with the air of one giving out the keys to immortality. 

Honestly, the most demon-like thing about him was his adamant belief that the Uchiha should die. Naruto’s assertion that those two ANBU guys, Crow and Weasel, seemed to be doing that for him was met with euphoria on a scale that she’d never experienced before. (The fox’s happiness made _her_ happy cause he seemed pretty sad and grumpy and no one should be sad and grumpy when there was ramen in the world.)

The second demony thing about him was the fact that he did _not_ like ramen, also known as the Food of the Gods! How could someone not like ramen? 

Despite all this, Naruto really liked Kura-chan even though he was kind of grumpy and acted like he didn’t wanna deal with her. Which was funny that he even tried cause she could feel that he _liked_ her too. 

It was not the newfound awareness of the so-called demon in her gut that had Naruto being...not Naruto. But rather the knowledge that she had a _clan a family parents_ who loved her, would have loved her even but they were dead. Jiji had told her that she had been abandoned at birth, that her parents were traitors who had been killed as missing nin and _that_ was why the village treated her so bad. 

She should have known better. Should have known to trust her gut around the Old Man that screamed for her to _not trust not confide to be wary_. Whywhywhywhywhywhywhy had she been so _stupid_ and trusting.

Kurama did not _like_ her parents but that did not stop him from telling her of them. Of the Yondaime who had did this to her— ~~sentenced her to death and a life of hatred and pain and~~ — a prodigy who was larger than life and died in a blaze of glory. Of her mother who was fire and water, the crashing of waves against a crumbling cliff, the sound of rising winds just before a storm. The mother who bound Kurama and staked him with _chains_ and hurt him so badly but

But this so-called demon talked about her parents and told her as much as he knew even though he hated them and they hurt him and they were the reason both of them were fucked and lonely and always in pain, always wary, always _angry_. 

Uzumaki Kushina gave her am unholy love of ramen and rattling chains and chakra so dense that one could feel it from miles away and was the reason that she would never be able to do a D-rank jutsu and the reason why her injuries healed in seconds if they didn’t heal instantaneously. The bitch gave her the blessing of a long life, the compulsion to _seek_ and love so much and so hard that it cut her soul to ribbons and left her so drained and tired and needy because no one ever loved back and never as fully as she did until Shikamaru.

Namikaze Minato gave her the need to exalt those who showed her an inch of kindness, the bastard father passing on his insecurities even in death. He gave her a fucking miserable demon in her gut and the memory of wind in her veins as countries flashed by her. 

Naruto wondered whether or not she should hate her parents for the life she had lived, the life that they had left her to willingly, for the sake of a village that did not love her and never would because its inhabitants would never see her. 

Because hatred was simple and easier to shed off. 

Resentment took root and no amount of effort really got rid of it. 

~*~ 

Utakata was a near silent companion to Naruto. He reminded her of Shikamaru which hurt but it helped that he didn’t look anything like him and that he was like her in ways that Shikamaru wasn’t (and never should be).

The boy, at sixteen, was quiet and contemplative and she often sensed that he was in some sort of limbo, wandering around with no destination in mind. 

They had been hunkering down together in a cave for four days now—and were stuck because of a fucking blizzard—and he had only told her his name, what Biju he contained, and where he was from.

(Utakata, the Rokubi—he didn’t know his Biju’s name which Naruto thought was sad but Kura-Chan said they didn’t give their names out to just _anyone_ , but the Rokubi’s name was Saiken— and he was from Kiri which had _two_ whole Jinchuriki!)

Everything else about her companion was gleaned from the Rokubi himself (themself?) who was a giant slug with really long eyeballs and covered in slime with five horns on his head—two long ones and three short ones in the middle. 

She learned that the Biju had a shared mindscape where they would check in and have meetings with each other and as a Jinchuriki, Naruto could meet the other Tailed Beasts and their Jinchuriki. Apparently, the Biju met regularly, and Kurama was one of the most frequent residents of the shared mindscape. 

She learned that Utakata was on the run from Kiri after killing his former master. The guy had been on the run from the Kiri Hunter Nin for two years already and had no intentions to be returned to Kiri.

She learned that all Jinchuriki were treated like moldy skin tags on an old dude’s balls which was nice in a depressing sort of way. Misery loved company and all that. Naruto wasn’t too pure to admit that while she didn’t like to cause other people’s suffering, she _did_ occasionally revel in others misery. 

Unlike their (his?) host, Saiken was incredibly energetic and cheerful, teasing his “older brother” for being so protective over his “kit”. Whoever that was. 

The slug knew a ton about poisons and was literally corrosive to the touch to everything except Utakata and Naruto apparently. (Kura-chan said she was immune to Saiken’s corrosive sliminess cause of her Uzumaki genes and him. Saiken quipped that that made sense since Kura-Chan was the most poisonous thing on the planet.) The two spent hours talking about flower symbology, botany, and the usage of poisons much to the chagrin of both Kurama and Utakata. 

Saiken was super cool! Not as cool as Kurama who was a _fox_ , but still awesome of course. 

~*~

On the fourth day of their icy entrapment, Naruto couldn’t even be embarrassed when she shrieked as Utakata started up a conversation with her. He was just so _quiet_.

“Where are you from?” The other boy’s voice was soft and had a gruff undertone to it that reminded her fondly of her Asu-oji. 

“I’m from Konoha dattebayo!” It was said enthusiastically and with pride even though she didn’t feel too enthusiastic about her home and was trying very hard to find some reason to be prideful about the place.

“...Dattebayo?”

“Oh,” Naruto said grinning, “issa verbal tic ya know! I can’t help but even if I could I wouldn’t cause—“

“How old are you.” The former Kiri nin interrupted.

_Rude._

“I’m seven but I’ll be eight in like, a few days!”

There was a moment of silence between the two where Utakata surveyed her and she stared back. 

“You should come with me.” Utakata said in the tone of someone who did not want the other person to take him up on their offer. Stretching out her emotion-feelers, she could sense that despite his tone he genuinely meant it. 

“Where are you goin’?”

Currently, neither one of them was going _nowhere_. If they weren’t Jinchuriki they would’ve already froze to death. Kurama was unbearably warm, and by that she meant touching him could result in melting the flesh off your bones, so Naruto didn’t even _feel_ the cold. (She was surprised to learn that Utakata wasn’t immune to the cold like her but rather extremely resistant). Naruto couldn’t remember the last time she ate even though Kurama assured her that on the trek here she had consumed three raw rabbits, a fact she tried to ignore. 

“Away from here” he stated. _Obviously_. Naruto rolled her eyes prompting him to sigh and elaborate. “The Land of Rivers first and then the Land of Iron.” 

She did not know what was so significant about either place that Utakata decided he was gonna waste away his days there but—

“The Land of Rivers doesn’t have a hidden village and a neutral entity. It is the only nation that has never been pulled into a war. The Land of Iron is also a neutral entity and is run by samurai. Unlike the Land of Rivers which is almost completely civilian, the Land of Iron has a mix of samurai and Shinobi. And it’s nicknamed the Land of Refuge because _anyone_ can seek asylum.”

Oh. 

“Asylum? Freedom?” 

“Yes.”

Freedom from this life as a thing more than a person. The older she got and the more she learned about herself, the more she yearned for that elusive ideal. _Freedom._ If Utakata was right then she could be anyone, do anything. Finally, finally, be _herself_ around more than two people. 

Kurama’s eagerness flooded her veins like lightning, making the idea even more appealing. She was not just Uzumaki Naruto, she was also Kurama, a tailed beast. She could not just think of herself in this matter. 

**”I will go wherever you go obviously, kit. And I shall support you. Even if you decide to tap into your Uzumaki lunacy and return to the Leaf.”**

Naruto jumped. Kurama had never spoken to her when she was not in the mindscape. Of course, she could feel him, knew that he was watching and listening, but he had never talked before. 

_”Oh, okay. Well..”_

**”This is something to think about. Unlike me, you do have people in the village that you care about and may wish to return to.”** The fox’s voice conveyed his feelings of disbelief at the last statement.

He wasn’t wrong. There was Shikamaru first and foremost. Shikamaru was _hers_ just as she was his and there wasn’t a second that went by where she didn’t miss him. 

Next was Konohomaru and then Asu-oji and Koto-obachan. Bi-baasan and Yoshi-kaachan and Shikaku-touchan. The Ichiraku’s, Teuchi-jiji and Yame-neechan. Kaoru-ojisan. Iruka-sensei maybe. 

Jiji—The Sandaime—not anymore. 

Then there was the child in her, the child she was despite everything, that hoped that maybe one day, someday, that she would be accepted in the village. Acknowledged. Respected. Loved. 

Did she want to separate herself from Shikamaru for however many years? Until people forgot her face and their hatred of her? 

Could she put the both of them through that pain? Even now, she could feel Shikamaru, awake and pushing through a pain so acute that it skated past the outer limits of agonizing right into persistent discomfort. As someone who had been tortured and beaten a lot between the ages of two to four, Naruto knew that the persistent discomfort level of pain was the worst kind. That was pain that you couldn’t shake off, couldn’t ignore, and couldn’t resist. 

No. She could _not_ do that to Shikamaru even if she knew that Shikamaru was more than willing to do it to himself. 

Out of everyone on her list, he was the only person besides Konohomaru who she would not wish any pain on. Would die a little inside just from their _disappointment_. Sustained pain would kill her. 

She felt her Biju’s disappointment and resignation in her unspoken decision. 

She saw Utakata realize her answer without her even having to verbalize it. The boy’s lips turned down in a comically incredulous frown that Naruto would have laughed at had she not been so sad. 

_“Foolish child. They will ruin you.”_

He said it like she wasn’t already aware of that fact and already ruined. 

~*~

It had been six days she had woken up from her Kurama-induced coma and two since she had parted ways with Utakata and Saiken. Saiken leaving her some of his awesome slime that Kurama had tucked away in the mindscape (she was confused about how she would get it out) and a request that she stopped by the shared mindscape frequently to which she had replied in the affirmative. 

Utakata had crushed her to him for a long time before she even thought of hugging him back. She hadn’t thought it was possible but he clutched her even tighter than before. The waves of grief and sheer terror coming from the sixteen year old threatened to overwhelm her and she was happy when Kurama dulled her senses. 

When the two parted, the Kiri boy’s eyes were shiny and she was downright sobbing but neither mentioned the other’s state. 

“Be happy little fox. Just...be happy and be safe and...don’t let anyone steal your smile. You have such a beautiful soul. Try and keep it intact.” 

She could only nod as he petted her head with a gentle fondness that she had not known he felt for her—and damn why was it so hard for her to sense the emotions of her fellow Jinchuriki!—before smiling and pressing a kiss to her forehead. Naruto had blinked, tears slipping down her cheeks as she felt his chakra build and then he was gone. 

And she was all alone. Again.

If she stayed in that little cave a whole day crying, no one knew but she and the fox taking up space in her gut.

Was this what it was like to lose something, someone? Something that was finally in your grasp but slipped through the cracks?

And she had no one to blame but herself and her own sense of loyalty and love. 

~*~

When they met in Shika’s mindscape that night after Utakata left, Naruto spent two hours with her face buried in the spot between Shikamaru’s neck and shoulder. Her breath creating its own haven of warmth and solitude in the spot. 

“You should have _went_.” Shikamaru sounded angry with her. 

She hated that. Kurama was growling lowly in the back of her mind. She wanted to go but she wanted to be with him even more. 

“I need you.” She needed him to feel whole, to feel alive. She was too young to understand the full extent of this need but she knew that it had found its way into her very soul and had set up foundations so deep that _nothing_ except death would destroy it. 

Shikamaru shuddered as the full scope of her emotions hit him. The self-loathing, the fear, the anger, the _want_. 

And then she was _crying_ and he felt like an asshole. 

She was only verbalizing what he felt and what he wanted but was too cowardly to say. She had always been the better half of the two of them. 

“Please don’t be angry with me Shika!” It was gasped out, tearing through the cottony sludge that her mouth had become. 

And Shikamaru gripped her tight to him. Tighter than even Utakata had and _held_. 

_I’ll never let you go, I’ll always be here, I’m yours for as long as you’ll have me_ his hold whispered to her even as his mouth soothed her, “Sunflower I’m not angry. I’m never angry with you, I’m just worried. Please be safe.”

Didn’t he know that _he_ was her safety? As long as they were apart she was drowning. She was safest when she was near him.

She was not the demon girl with him but Naruto, his sunflower, and it’s what she always wanted most. 

* * *

Naruto wasn’t in Kumo and, Kakashi was starting to believe, she wasn’t even in Lightning despite her scent randomly clinging to shrubbery around the fucking nation. 

The girl’s scent had taken them through five towns, two forests, and a mountain range over the course of almost a month. 

Kakashi and Uchiha Shisui had made clones and searched, Sharigans blazing into every wormhole, every corner, and every crevice. 

Nothing. 

There was no trace of her heavy chakra that announced her presence miles away. No sunshine yellow hair. No sharp teeth catching the sun. No neon orange. 

No Naruto. 

The two stood panting four miles from the Lightning-Snow border which was the direction that the last scent trail that his pack had found of hers led to. 

For all his genius, Kakashi did not know what it meant to be found here of all places. There were no towns in a hundred mile radius of the border. There wasn’t even a _ninja patrol_ that covered the Lightning-Snow border. So why here?

There were no Jinchuriki in Snow, they were a civilian land and completely neutral. If there _was_ any kind of Shinobi, Jinchuriki or not, the country would have alerted the other countries to come and reclaim them. Snow took its neutrality very seriously after all. 

But Kakashi and his partner had heard nary a whisper about any Shinobi in Snow. 

Which meant that there had to be _something_ along the border that the Kyuubi was interested in. 

He knew from a report from Shikaku-sama that his son, Shikamaru, who was somehow connected to Naruto had woken up eight days ago. The Jonin Commander had theorized in his report sent through Pakkun that that might mean that Naruto was not being controlled by the Kyuubi anymore. 

Kakashi didn’t believe that. Naruto was a simple and oblivious kid. She wouldn’t know to go to Snow for whatever reason. Hell, she wouldn’t have even gone to _Kumo_ had she been in control of her body. No, Uzumaki Naruto would have hid somewhere in the Land of Fire among the trees that she grew up around. Leaf nin were always more comfortable in a forest. His sensei’s legacy should be no different. 

So the Kyuubi was up to something in Lightning and/or Snow. 

Kakashi would find out but first—“We’ll set up camp here and rest before resuming the search tomorrow.” The palpable relief emanating from the Uchiha made Kakashi smirk behind his mask. _Kids these days really don’t have any endurance,_ he thought. 

The two prepared camp silently and silently ate the fish they had caught earlier that day along with some ground acorns and soldier pills. 

Kakashi was just getting ready to signal that he would take first watch before the chakra hit him. 

“Are you two looking for me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I know I literally updated earlier today and said that I would be studying for my midterms but I got distracted (obviously) and will start studying for them tomorrow lol. This will—probably, hopefully—be my last update until my midterms are over at the end of this week. My grades kinda depend on it lol. 
> 
> Some Notes:  
> —Yeah, don’t hate me but I made her return to Konoha after lots of thinking and revising. I can’t see Naruto willingly letting someone suffer, especially someone she cares about, so that greatly influenced her decision  
> —But her return to Konoha gives me more ammo to kill her with (figuratively of course) so...sorry but also not sorry. My outline hates me and you may too but damn am I feeling sadistic and angsty.  
> —Saiken being corrosive and his personality, was taken from Narutopedia. I have no actual idea if he knows anything about poisons, but he’s corrosive so...I think it could fit  
> —Utakata is such an awkward baby and I love him. He’s also ridiculously wise and blunt, hence his last words to Naruto  
> —I have a head canon that as the strongest, first, and oldest Biju, Kurama is kinda immune/resistant to his siblings’ powers since in canon he was easily able to body like 5 of them at once  
> —Naruto’s chakra is naturally compatible with Kurama’s as an Uzumaki (and in canon, only Uzumaki were his hosts) so it doesn’t harm her. Shikamaru is seen as an extension of her as her mate which also part of the reason why Kyuubi chakra doesn’t harm him. Though it definitely can.


	10. Lines in the Sand I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shikamaru finally gets to talk with his mother plus a bit more context on Asuma leaving.

Shikamaru was finally able to corner his mother some four days after his father stopped bringing Uncle Inoichi and Hyuuga-sama over to dig around in his mind and chakra network. 

He never thought that he’s be wishing for his mother’s company over his father’s but he also never thought he’d fixate on a _person_ so obviously he didn’t know shit. 

His chance to talk to his mother came when his father’s team had been summoned to the Hokage’s office, presumably for a mission. His father had patted Shikamaru’s hair affectionately, kissed his mother, and left their home shortly after breakfast. 

Breakfast had been a near silent affair, the tension between Shikamaru and his father almost suffocating in its intensity. He could barely look his father in his eyes as every time he looked there was this sense of melancholic disappointment that sucker punched him in the gut. 

The silence between the two was only broken by his mother’s slightly strained chatter that was missing it’s normal vibrancy. 

And of course, there was the missing Naruto who had brought an almost hysterical energy to the household, full of sunshine and sarcastic cheer, the blonde was like a planet the rest of the Nara family had been orbiting around.

Shikamaru tried not to think of Naruto returning to him as he starred at his mother’s back. 

He needed to make sure that Naruto wasn’t returning just to get locked up somewhere for the rest of her life. 

And for that he needed to talk to his mother and get in contact with Sarutobi Asuma. 

“Mom?” 

His mother hummed somewhere from within the depths of the kitchen. 

Grumbling, Shikamaru slid from his seat at the dining table and, balancing his plate and empty tea cup, slouched into the kitchen. 

His mother was standing at the sink, already elbow deep in suds as she washed the dishes the family had dirtied during breakfast. Sniffing at him, she gestured with her chin to the pile of unclean dishes to her right, and Shikamaru sidled around her to place his dishes onto the pile. 

“Mom?” He asked again.

“Yes, what is Shikamaru?”

“Well...I need to talk to you.”

“Obviously,” the woman murmured dryly. 

Shikamaru fought the urge to roll his eyes. Now was not the time for her to be being so troublesome. 

“It’s about the Kyuubi and Naruto.” The splash of the plate falling back into the sink was satisfying on some level to him. His mother turned towards him, suds flying through the air as she leveled him with an appraising look.

“What do you know about...”

“I met him. And Naruto.”

“I see. Let me dry my hands, Shikamaru. Go sit in the living room, I’ll be there in a minute.” His mother ordered.

Shrugging, Shikamaru did as told. 

He vaguely wondered if his mother was going to send for his father as well while she was “drying her hands”, but dismissed the thought. Nara Yoshino was many things and being dedicated to her husband’s career was one of them. She would never interrupt his father especially while he was meeting with the Hokage.

It was only a minute later, much longer than it took anyone to dry their hands, that his mother entered the lounge. 

Shikamaru had situated himself into one of the two armchairs in the room that faced the couch and his mother perched onto the arm of the other armchair, her body angled towards his. 

“What about the Kyuubi? And how did you meet it?”

“Him. He’s definitely a guy. I met him through Naruto, when I was unconscious? He told me to talk to you and a ‘chain-smoking monkey’ that I figured out was a man named Sarutobi Asuma doing some research and asking Naruto about it, well, kinda asking her. But I can’t find him. I’m sure Hayami-obachan told you and dad how I broke into the ANBU Archives and found... _things_.

“Most of which I wasn’t looking for by the way. I was originally looking for info on Sarutobi Asuma since the Hokage’s clan information is classified. Naruto calls him ‘Asu-oji’ so she knows him and I thought that maybe...” He trailed off unsure how to continue. He hadn’t found much about the Sarutobi other than he was exiled but not really. He’d done _something_ but what that was, Shikamaru had no idea.

Thankfully for him though, his mother took over the conversation. Running her hands through her pin straight hair, his mother fixed her stormy gray eyes on him.

“ _None_ of this gets repeated to Naru-chan understand?” She waited for his answering nod before continuing, “Sarutobi Asuma is the Hokage’s youngest child. He... _left_ about two years ago because of disagreements shall we say? About Naruto-chan’s care and certain...things that happened to her when she was around four that is. Asuma-kun loves Naruto like a daughter. In fact, he tried to adopt her. First by normal channels and then through blood adoption. Both were denied.”

“By the Hokage?” Shikamaru asked.

His mother nodded solemnly. “I had hoped that the Sandaime would be more amenable to having his own blood adopt Naruto but he wasn’t.” Snorting, the woman shook her head. “Anyway, Asuma-kun was sort of exiled as you already know.”

“What happened? What did he do?”

“Did Naruto ever tell you what led to her living in the Sarutobi Compound?”

Shikamaru frowned before gesturing in the negative. He had assumed that Naruto had always lived with the Hokage’s family. He knew that his Sunflower didn’t really have any recollection of memories before the age of five but according to his mother, _something_ had happened to her that changed her living arrangements and resulted into the sort-of exile of the Hokage’s youngest son. 

“Oh? Well,” his mother sounded disappointed that he didn’t know what had happened to Naruto. “That’s okay. No one outside of the Hokage’s family and Naruto herself are aware of what actually happened. Anyway, Sarutobi Asuma...really loves Naruto-chan. And love, love can make you crazy sometimes, or ridiculously happy, or unwaveringly protective of that person. Or all three. Something that I’m sure you understand very well now,” his mother smiled faintly at him and a corner of Shikamaru’s lips lifted in response. Yeah, he understood all right.

“Asuma-kun found out about whatever it was that made the Sandaime move Naruto-chan into the Sarutobi Compound. And whatever it was...what was done to her I mean was _awful_. That much we _do_ know. And when Asuma found out, he went a little crazy.”

From his mother’s tone, Shikamaru knew that Sarutobi Asuma had gone _a lot_ crazy. 

“He found the people who hurt Naruto-chan and the people who were supposed to care for her and killed them.”

“What? What _happened_ to Naruto?” Shikamaru asked, stomach roiling. Naruto had never mentioned this. Had never made it seem like the villagers did anything other than ostracize her.

“We don’t _know_ Shikamaru. I was hoping that _you_ did since you and Naruto-chan are so close but...” His mother trailed off a bit forlornly. 

“She never mentioned anything about...an attack. I thought she had always lived with the Hokage and his family.”

“No,” his mother said shaking her head, “she used to live in the orphanage for the first four years of her life and then was moved elsewhere after the attack and then, well I’m not sure where exactly she was. I do know that she spent time going between the Sarutobi Compound and somewhere else but that’s all your father and I have been able to figure out.

“Anyway, Asuma killed a lot of civilians and Shinobi. Crimes punishable by death. If he hadn’t of done what he had, then we wouldn’t even know that Naruto had been attacked.”

“Wait, you said she was attacked when she was four. If Sarutobi-san left two years ago then he did it when Naruto was five? Did _he_ not know about it?” Shikamaru asked incredulously. What the fuck was going on?

“What did Naruto say about Asuma-kun?” His mother asked, brows furrowed. 

“She said that he’s one of her favorite people and I remind her of him. She told me that they take naps and he’s the one who taught her how to read. Apparently, he’s also the reason she has such a foul mouth. She said that he left because he and the Hokage don’t get along and Sarutobi-san hates his father.” Shikamaru reported.

“So he never told her why he really left and the Hokage has obviously covered it up then.” His mother said more to herself than to him. Humming his mother gave him a searching look before she asked, “why did the Kyuubi tell you to talk to me and Asuma-kun?”

“To protect Naruto.”

His mother frowned in obvious confusion. “Shikamaru, Naruto-chan isn’t even—she’s coming back isn’t she.” It wasn’t a question.

“Unfortunately.” Shikamaru grunted. “I need to make sure that she doesn’t get locked away into a cage. The Kyuubi specifically named the two of you to help me...or do something at least. But this was before she decided to come back. I don’t want the Hokage to get his hands on her, he obviously doesn’t give a damn about her despite what Naruto thinks. I don’t trust anyone who works with that man either.”

“And that includes your father?” Yoshino asked knowingly. 

Shikamaru squirmed uncomfortably. 

“Dad’s the Jonin Commander. He works for the Hokage and carries out all his orders. I just...I just don’t want him to have to choose between his leader and his son. I don’t know which of us he would choose.”

“Shikamaru!” His mother voice was sharp and desperate. When he glanced over at her he saw that the woman was glassy-eyed, as if she was about to spontaneously burst into tears, something that made him extremely uncomfortable. “Your father loves you so much, he’d do any—“

“Would he do anything for Naruto who _I_ love so much? Would he lock her away if it was for the benefit of the village because he thinks the Kyuubi is a security risk or would he trust her to control the fox? If the Hokage told him to terminate Naruto would he do it and kill me in the process, inadvertently? I’m well aware that my father loves me. Love doesn’t automatically breed trust. How can I trust the person who has perpetuated the laws that have kept Naruto from growing, from being seen as a _person_? If dad really wanted to fucking change something he would have already manipulated the situation and _changed_ it. But he hasn’t and _I don’t trust him. Not with Naruto. Not with this._ ” 

Shikamaru’s chest was heaving by the time he was done ranting. He had never yelled at his mother. He barely yelled ever. 

His mother’s eyes were wide with shock and hurt and tears were flowing down her cheeks and onto her clenched hands. 

Suddenly all the anger and fight drained from him. He was tired. So so tired. 

He was only seven years old and here he was trying to go against the establishment, against his _father_ whom he’d never beat in a single shogi game, and had admired and trusted implicitly, his entire life. And now...now he had made his mother cry and had basically unofficially declared war with his father.

When he spoke again, it was soft and weary and he sounded so much older than he was. 

“Are you with me or against me?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My exam’s are almost over! I have one more this week and then I’ll be done. Buuuuut, March is still a pretty busy month for me so I hope I’ll be able to at least get through this arc of Naruto returning to the village and Shikamaru setting the groundwork for said return by the end of the month. No promises however, as I do write primarily for myself. 
> 
> This is my shortest chapter to date which makes me feel weird.


End file.
